(L - R) Front Row - PPNA Executive Board Members Lewis Lutnick, Debbie Kawalick, (Guest Speaker) Judge Robert Torres, Steve Glosser, and President Edith Blitzer. Back Row Lance Zavin, Ruth Birenberg, Oscar Ruiz, and Andrea Siegel.
Judge Torres spoke about the Criminal Court system, the recently passed Raise the Age legislation, the much lower population of inmates at Rikers Island, and took questions from the audience. He began with saying that judges are human, there are many great judges, but there are some who need retraining. He said that it costs Three Thousand dollars per year to house an inmate in prison, and that four to six people can get programs for that cost.
When questions came as to how repeat offenders are released again and again Judge Torres said that people can not be kept in jail for low level crimes. He said that the system is not perfect, and must be done on an individual case by case trial. When it came to the new Raise the Age Legislation taking sixteen and seventeen year olds out of the criminal system Judge Torres said that for major crimes they will still be tried in the criminal court system. The court system is defining just which crimes are to be sent to other areas of the court system, and that judges need to learn that.
Representatives of the Comptrollers office, Councilman Gjonaj, Assemblywoman Fernandez, and Councilman Torres's office were on hand with information, and 49th Precinct Sector NCO officers Mcdowell and Grossett answered some questions.
Above - Judge Torres answering one of the questions asked of him.
Below - 49th Precinct Sector NCO officers Mcdowell and Grossett.
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