Top NY judge hands yet another gift to violent criminals at the expense of law-abiding citizens

New York laws are already badly skewed to keep even violent thugs out of jail and prison, but that’s not good enough for Chief Judge Rowan Wilson and the state’s pro-criminal bench.On Monday, the courts announced yet another gift to the thugs: Criminal and family-court judges will have to visit a “prison, jail, or other detention facility” at least once a year, starting Jan.1, 2028.New York, as usual, will be the only state in the nation with such a wacky, pro-criminal rule.

(It’s also the only state that bans judges from considering the danger a perp poses to the community when weighing whether to release him or her on bail.)The new rule “keeps judges better connected to what transpires after sentencing,” Wilson preens.What an insult to New York’s jurists, who overwhelmingly know perfectly well what prison is like.Indeed, the rules already require quadrennial visits by judges — and they can go more often if they like.This is also a fresh slap to crime and domestic-violence victims: Why not not require judges to spend some time with them?Make sure jurists know what “transpires” with a subway-assault survivor, a store clerk robbed at gunpoint or the grieving family of a murder victim.Ramon Acavedo, beaten with a hammer and nearly killed in a 2020 attack at a Chelsea Gristedes, fumed that judges don’t have “to see the harm done to victims and families,” adding that he’s “grateful I’m still alive.’’ Yes, this might make the judges more sympathetic to victims and more likely to toughen sentencing — the opposite of what Rowan & Co.aim to do.

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Never miss a story.“Justice may be depicted as blind but should not blind itself to reality,” Wilson lectures about a new rule that’s an obvious push for lighter sentences.Advocates...