Listening to @PodSaveThePpl on way home from night court last night. Pleasantly surprised to hear a discussion of my oped on how mandatory minimum sentences don’t just drive mass punishment (as we most often discuss) but insulate & enable police violence.nytimes.com/2019/09/25/opi…
Thesis: “In courts throughout this country, victims of police abuse forgo their constitutional right to challenge police abuse because the alternative is to risk the steep mandatory minimum sentence they would face if they went to trial and lost. Instead they plead guilty.”
“In NYC, less than 5% of felonies have hearings to contest police misconduct. For misdemeanors—less than .5% of cases go to a hearing. A guilty plea also blocks lawsuits because a plea of guilty serves as an admission that the officers’ arrest was justified.” Cops insulated.
Some answers: 1. Abolish mandatory minimums. 2. Prosecutors must stop prosecuting cases based on the word of cops w/ histories of misconduct & credibility issues & should make public lists of those officers. 3. Prosecutors must stop using mandatory minimums to coerce pleas.
Thanks to @MsPackyetti, @ClintSmithIII, @samswey & @deray for raising this important issue (and so many others, always) up. Listen to the entire latest episode. The discussion of my oped starts at minute 19. open.spotify.com/episode/6uh7T8… 
