Do you think this might be a good idea to expand to
other places? What effect would you predict the
combination of the sure, swift, punishment for
probation violators and this type of amnesty might
have for society?
November 6, 2009
A Fresh Start for Some Under Threat of Arrest
NEWARK — Outside the Bethel Baptist Church on Market Street, men and women formed a line that stretched around the block, waiting for a chance at absolution.
But it was not a matter of the soul that concerned them on Thursday; their issues were more temporal: All had warrants seeking their arrest, and they were turning themselves in beneath a cloak of leniency.
Under a program called Fugitive Safe Surrender, which promises favorable consideration — though not amnesty — for those with open warrants for nonviolent crimes, nearly 1,000 people surrendered on Wednesday and Thursday, the first two days of the four-day program here.
Once in the church, people sat on chairs in rows in a basement gym, snacking on peanut butter sandwiches donated by a synagogue, while teams of officers consulted computers for warrants that in some cases were more than 20 years old.
After the computer check, the fugitives walked one block to a community center, where their cases were adjudicated in makeshift courtrooms.
Sitting at a table in the community center, Michael Brown, 43, explained to a judge why he had decided to settle a warrant for his arrest for failure to pay child support.
“I can’t get a driver’s license because of this warrant, and I drive a truck for a living,” said Mr. Brown, a father of two who lives in Newark and owes more than $25,000 in back child support. “I can’t pay if I can’t work.”
Judge Thomas P. Zampino of New Jersey Superior Court characterized Mr. Brown’s rationale as “very fair.” He lifted the warrant, but scheduled another court date in January for Mr. Brown to set up a payment plan.
Fugitive Safe Surrender, which is administered by the United States Marshals Service, was introduced in New Jersey last year in Camden. In just a few days, 2,245 people turned themselves in, clearing 7,000 warrants from the books. Organizers noted that during the Camden event, more people turned themselves in each day as word about the program spread. Officials in Newark expect the same thing to happen this year during the program, which runs through Saturday.
Theodore J. Romankow, the Union County prosecutor, said the program gives people a second chance.
“We’re talking about people who are not involved in violent crimes, people who have made mistakes and are trying to repair them,” he said. “This is more rewarding for everyone than bringing them in handcuffs.”
Latoya McQueen, 34, brought along her son Nazir Thomas, 4, while she dealt with a 12-year-old warrant for a traffic violation. She, too, wanted to get her license back so she could stop bumming rides to her job as a nursing assistant two counties away.
“That is the glory I’m looking forward to at the end of this day,” she said.
Others, like Roland Richards, hoped to refinance debts. Mr. Richards, who owes $34,000 in back child support payments, said that in 2001 his outstanding warrants landed him in jail for nine days after a routine traffic stop. The stint cost him his job as a maintenance worker on Wall Street. Because criminal background checks show that he is a fugitive, he has struggled to hold down steady work.
“It’s been 25 years of madness,” said Mr. Richards. “I’m trying to clean my life up.”
So far, officials have noticed that a higher proportion of men who owe child support are turning themselves in this year compared with last year, said James T. Plousis, the United States marshal for New Jersey.
He said that the program cost $100,000, which he estimated as a fifth of the cost of law enforcement tracking down each person with a nonviolent felony warrant. Mr. Plousis added that the program has the benefit of potentially keeping officers out of harm’s way; of 133 police officers killed in the line of duty in the United States last year, Mr. Plousis said, 10 died serving warrants for nonviolent offenses.
Florencio Rivera, 34, of Newark, was overjoyed at successfully reducing a $1,500 tab — owed for two parking tickets, an open alcohol container citation, and a ticket for driving an unregistered vehicle — to 1 percent of what he owed. When he emerged from the courtroom, he raved into his cellphone, imploring his friends to also turn themselves in.
“Could you believe after all my tickets it got cut to just $15?” he said. “Only problem is, I don’t have $15 right now.”
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
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