1. In arraignments in Brooklyn court last night, first client I arraign is teenager charged w/ stealing small amount of candy incl. apple green gummies & milky way bar w/ his friend from 7 Eleven next door to their school. Attaching the (redacted) criminal complaint here. 
2. He is 17 but charged as an adult. The police have the option to give him a desk appearance ticket (DAT) to allow him to come back to court rather than put him through the system. They don't. He is held for almost two days in a cell with adults some charged w/ serious crimes.
3. The prosecutor had the option to decline to prosecute the case. They don't. The complainant of course didn't have to bring the charges. The 7 Eleven is located next to a school. Children steal from the store all the time.
4. My client's mother tells me that normally the store just tells the school, when they apprehend children taking candy. In this case they call the police. My client's mother's takes him to the precinct to surrender. My client is Black.
5. My client has been accepted into 4 very competitive colleges for next year. My client is very naive and speaks freely to the police, telling them it was not apple green gummies, but a different sort of candy that his friend may have taken.
6. I explain to my client that as a young Black man, he should never talk to the police because even when you are accused of stealing candy they will arrest you and charge you a crime, where they will not charge similarly situated white people.
7. The prosecutor offers my client something called an ACD (adjournment in contemplation of dismissal) which means that his case will be dismissed and sealed in 6 months so long as he does not get arrested during that time.
8. Although this is in effect an adjourned dismissal (not a plea or admission of guilt) it means the case remains open and my client will be starting college so I ask if they will agree to immediate sealing. They do. So the case is immediately dismissed and sealed.
9. BUT the prosecutor wants an order of protection for the clerk. This is not OK. The store is next to my client's school, so he can't reasonably stay away from that location AND there was no allegation here of threat or violence to the clerk. I oppose issuance of the order.
10. The judge gets it. He gets it because he is a judge who knows the law and knows that this is not a situation where you issue an order of protection. It is a petit larceny case. He doesn't issue the order.
11. The judge is also a Black man. So he REALLY GETS IT.
12. The co-defendant's case was heard earlier in the day in front of a different judge (who happens to be a white woman). An order of protection was issued in that case. Most judges do just issue orders of protection when prosecutors ask for them.
13. Which illustrates on a small scale how much randomness there is in this system in terms of the outcome of a case being dependent on what judge it comes before. But also on the decisions made by the complainant, the police & the prosecutor - all of which are just as variable.
