Bronx Justice News covered Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark ‘s participation in Fordham Law’s “Who, How & Why Now: Putting Violent Offenses at the Center of Mass Incarceration Reform” panel event on April 30.
Speaking on a panel that included Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and former Chief Judge of New York Jonathan Lippman, Clark addressed a packed auditorium at Fordham University’s Law School as part of a forum titled “Putting Violent Offenses at the Center of Mass Incarceration Reform.”
“I have tried to change my office,” Clark said. “But, you know, sometimes it’s hard changing a culture. I took over an office where the DA was there for 27 years. I’m new to this, but I’m in the 21st Century, so I get that we can’t keep everybody in.”
Clark made the remarks about her office’s culture in response to a question submitted by an audience member to the forum’s moderator, “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley.
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“What I instructed my assistants to do is, as long as bail is available, you have to have a reason to seek the bail,” Clark continued, referring to internal directives she gave her prosecutors. “So my theory now….if I’m not seeking a jail sentence on somebody, we shouldn’t be asking for bail. It took a long time to get the assistants to wrap that around their heads. The newer ones get it. It’s my middle managers that have been there a while, that they’re used to doing it for so long that they can’t get out of it no matter how many times I tell them. So I keep pounding it into them.”