New York City judges who previously worked as prosecutors or police officers are more likely to detain people following their first court appearances and to set higher bail than judges without a law enforcement background, according to a new study.
The research, which was shared with Gothamist ahead of its broader publication, comes as Mayor Zohran Mamdani is assembling the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary, the group that screens and recommends most of the city’s Criminal Court and Family Court judges.
The committee operated largely out of public view under previous administrations, but Mamdani has laid out new guidelines around transparency and professional diversity…