Johnson, Dems deprived us of needed debate on justice

To the editor,

To your excellent editorial on the DA shenanigans (“An affront to democracy,” Sept. 24), I would add this addendum: By Robert Johnson deciding to run for judge conveniently after the date for setting a primary (everyone else seemed to know about it months before), we were deprived of a much needed discussion of criminal justice in the Bronx, which an election would have permitted. 

We certainly need to talk about why our borough’s prosecutor’s office has the lowest conviction rate of the five boroughs. We need to talk about the seeming inability of that office to bring accused individuals a speedy trial, as guaranteed in the Constitution, leaving them to languish in the Hell hole that is Rikers Island for months, and sometimes years, without being convicted of anything. We need to talk about a bail system that creates a virtual “debtor’s prison” for the poor accused. And we need to talk about the heavy incarceration rate that is having a devastating impact on minority communities. A contested primary would have been a great opportunity to talk about these things. However, political machinations have once again trumped the public interest.

David Kornbluh