504 Democratic Club: Questionnaires (Candidate for District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr.'s 2009 response)

Candidate Name: Cyrus Vance, Jr.

Contact Person: Michael DeLoach, mdeloach @ cyvanceforda.com, 347-784-6218

If there is a Campaign office, is it wheelchair accessible? The office is wheelchair accessible.

Campaign Address: 231 West 29th Street, Suite 904-5, New York, NY 10001
Phone: 646-461-6098
Fax: 775-255-9337
Address:
Email: info @ cyvanceforda.com
Website: cyvanceforda.com

Endorsements: (Political, Community & Labor)

Alan Gerson - Councilmember
Hon. David Dinkins - Former Mayor
Betsy Gotbaum - Public Advocate
Robert Fiske - Former United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York
Eleanor Jackson Piel- Veteran Civil Rights Attorney
Victor A. Kovner - Former Corporation Counsel under Mayor David Dinkins
Fern Schair - Immediate Past Chair of the Fund for Modern Courts
Author Linda Fairstein - Former Chief, Sex Crimes Unit, Manhattan DA's Office
David Boies - Chairman of Boies, Schiller & Flexner, LLP - Note: Bush v. Gore attorney
Alan Vinegrad - Former U.S. Attorney, Eastern District of New York
Michael Cherkasky - Former Chief, Investigations Division, Manhattan DA's Office
Zachary Carter - Former U.S. Attorney, Eastern District of New York
Peter Zimroth - Former Corporation Counsel of the City of New York, Former Chief Assistant and Chief of Appeals Bureau, Manhattan DA's Office
Moises Perez - ED, Allianza Dominica, Inc.
Rev. Reggie Williams - Chairman of the United Missionary Baptist Association's Commission for Human and Economic Development, Pastor Charity Baptist Church of Christ
Rev. Dr. Suzan Johnson-Cook
Rev. Dr. C. Vernon Mason
Rev. Dr. Lee Arrington & Rev. Jacques Andre De Graff
Audubon Reform Democratic Club
Village Reform Democratic Club
East Harlem United Democratic Club and District Leader Marion Bell
West Harlem Independent Dems and District Leader April Tyler
United Democrat Organization of Chinatown and District Leaders Dr. Herbert Kee and Jenny Low
Concerned Democratic Coalition
Jim Owles Democratic Club
Chelsea Reform Democratic Club
Sergeants Benevolent Association of New York
Teamsters Local 237 & more than 50 former distinguished Manhattan DA's office alumni

Action Shows Commitment!
1. While in public office/or private life prior to this campaign, what have you accomplished in regard to advancing disability rights? This can include work towards accessible housing, transportation, employment, health care, education, and including people with disabilities in the judicial and political process?
  
  I know what it is like to have a family member and employees with disabilities, and I understand many of the challenges they face dealing with housing, health care, education and employment. I have a nephew who has Down syndrome. I have worked with his mother over the course of his growing up in helping counsel her to deal with his legal issues related to his education, access to state aid, and housing. In my law firms, we have also employed people with disabilities, both mental and physical. I believe it is critical that we ensure employment for the disabled in order to diversify our workplace and to provide worthwhile employment opportunities for deserving people with special needs.
2. Historically, the courthouses in which you work and offices of staff of District Attorneys are not all accessible to people with all kinds of disabilities. How have you addressed this issue to date? What is your strategy for implementation of complete accessibility? Please be specific as to time and dates.
  
  I have not been in a management position at a prosecutor's office where I would have had to address access issues for the disabled. Were I to be elected District Attorney, I would engage a consultant who is expert in this issue, and make sure that our office was made accessible in every way feasible to the disabled. The courthouse, as the halls of justice, should of all places be accessible to everyone. I would also work with the court system (OCA) to lobby for the same result.
3. What implementation strategy do you have for your future programs and legislation to help constituents with disabilities?
  
  With respect to future programs specifically, my team is committed to working on a definitive implementation strategy to support the creation of a Mental Health Court in Manhattan, where eligible criminal defendants would be channeled. We will concurrently, establish a Mental Health Unit of specially trained Assistant DA's to work within the Mental Health Court. We are planning this for several reasons:
  
  The prevalence of serious mental illness among our jail and prison population is far higher than it is among the general population. Jails and prisons are simply not equipped to treat effectively mentally ill offenders. The mentally ill spend more time in jail than those prisoners who do not have psychiatric disorders and they leave prison with the same problems with which they entered.
  
  We must break the cycle of mental illness that leads to more crime and increased costs to society.
  
  The Mental Health Court will use the authority of the court to encourage defendants with psychiatric problems to receive, as an alternative sentence to incarceration, effective evidence-based treatment for their illnesses. These treatments have been shown to improve psychiatric functioning and reduce recidivism.
  
  This approach will protect the community by reducing the number of crimes committed by offenders with psychiatric illnesses. It will also reduce costs and will help integrate people with psychiatric disorders into the community so that they can become law-abiding, productive members of society.
  
  As well, I would be fully supportive of legislation that aids constituents with disabilities and would be committed to using the full power of the DA's office to support said legislation.
  
  In general, I also plan on meeting regularly with public interest groups, such as the 504 Democratic Club, to keep myself abreast of current issues facing people with disabilities and to provide a forum for discussing strategies for their resolution.
4. Will you commit to only attend or sponsor events that are accessible to people with disabilities?
  
  Our campaign is committed to doing everything we can to make sure that our events are fully accessible to anyone who wants to attend, including people with disabilities.
General Questions
1. What personal and professional experience have you had with people with disabilities in your personal life and in the workplace?
  
  See I(a) above.
2. What special accommodations do you believe/think are needed in the workplace/courtroom?
  
  I believe that every qualified person who wants a job should be able to work. Special accommodations in the workplace and courtroom should accommodate the accessibility issues of people with disabilities - therefore making it possible for them to physically access both spaces. Special accommodation in the workplace may require additional adjustments beyond physical access issues. If necessary to accommodate our team, more sophisticated alterations will absolutely be explored and implemented as required.
3. Have you hired/will you hire persons with disabilities at all levels of responsibility in your office?
  
  All candidates should be judged solely on their qualifications for the job at hand, no matter the level of responsibility. This philosophy will be an uncompromising policy of my office. I have personally hired people with disabilities at our law office in Seattle, Washington.
4. Are you willing to hire and use flex-time and job-sharing for people with disabilities? Will you make this a police of your office?
  
  I would absolutely support the use of flex-time and job-sharing for jobs within my office that are possible to perform on a flexible basis. It will be a policy of my office to accommodate our hires with disabilities so that they may perform their jobs in the best manner possible.
5. How do you propose your active involvement/availability to the disability community? Will there be a specific person in your office responsible to this community? Will have regular office agenda items and meetings on disabled community issues? Do you/or will you, have an active Disability Advisory Committee? Explain its duties, responsibilities and powers.
  
  The District Attorney's office should be completely available to the disability community and involved in the community to the same extent as our involvement with any other community in Manhattan. Yes, there will absolutely be a specific person in my office assigned to be responsible to the disability community so that we are aware of any progress/problems that arise. My community based justice model does not only align ADAs with geographic zones and communities but also aligns them with communities that cross such boarders - such as ethnic communities, the elderly, business communities, as well as the disabled.
  
  We are concentrating on our community outreach liaisons being fully accessible and representative of all of Manhattan. It is important that the DA's office serves Manhattan equally. Following suit, my offices will have regular office agenda items and meetings regarding disability community issues and we will have an active Disability Advisory Committee made up of our staff members with duties, responsibilities and powers including but not limited to the following:
  1. Duties: continually staying aware of the issues/problems/activities of the disability community;
  2. Responsibilities: coordinating our office's efforts to soundly and efficiently address said issues; and,
  3. Powers: effectively enforcing programs/initiatives in the community to address/ameliorate said issues.
6. Has a person with a disability appeared in court as a defendant, juror or litigant? If so, please indicate what, if any, problems arose? And how were they handled?
  
  This has not occurred in any case in which I have been involved.
7. Do you believe that a person who is deaf / hard of hearing or one who is blind / has low vision can serve as a juror?
  
  If the above mentioned persons with disabilities are able to be reasonably accommodated so that they may fully and fairly partake in the court process then I do believe that they could serve as a juror.
  
  It is notable that - Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. 794, prohibits discrimination against persons with hearing loss in "any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance." Following suit, The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) 1990 extended the prohibition of discrimination against persons with hearing loss to include all government entities and also requires them to make all of their services, programs, and activities available to "qualified individuals" with disabilities. [Section 202 of the ADA (42 U.S.C. '12132)].
  
  The New York court system at present provides services and/or aids to reasonably accommodate all jurors with disabilities. With respect to the hearing impaired, aids that are available include: assistive listening devices, sign language interpreters, and "real-time" court proceeding captioning. Certain New York courts may also be able to provide a reader for visually impaired jurors.
  
  In conclusion, it is my personal belief that with proper implementation of the appropriate accommodations in order to make the deaf/hard of hearing or blind/low vision juror comfortable in the court setting, that there is absolutely no reason that they could not serve as juror.
8. What is your position on making marijuana available for medical purposes?
  
  I fully support making medical marijuana available for medical purposes. I believe strongly that this is the most humane position to take on this issue. As I understand it, marijuana used for medical purposes in patients with debilitating illnesses has been proven to reduce chronic pain, nausea, and muscle spasms - as well as increasing suppressed appetites to encourage healthy eating and faster recovery times. Therefore, if a physician determines that the medicinal use of marijuana is the most effective means of aiding a patient's health then they should have the discretion to prescribe it for that specific purpose.
9. Do you believe that defendants with mental disabilities should be treated in a different manner than others? If so, how? If not, why not?
  
  I believe that defendants with mental disabilities should be accommodated in the court system in a manner that ensures that the legal process is carried out fairly, reasonably, and without prejudice.
  
  Specifically, with respect to our plan for addressing issues of mental illness through the establishment of a Mental Health Court and Mental Health Unit as delineated above, there are a plethora of statistics which support the findings that said Court and Unit are critical to protecting people with serious mental illness from remaining unnecessarily vulnerable in a system which currently is not designed in their best interest. Our plan for implementation is imperative from both a moral perspective and a sound public policy perspective; therefore, defendants with mental disabilities should be treated in a manner that best serves their interests, accommodates them appropriately, and avoid discriminating against them.
  
  Here is a sampling of such statistics:
  
  People with mental illness are more likely to be arrested than those without mental illness for similar crimes and they stay in jail and prison longer than other inmates.
  
  In 1999 - Riker's Island Jail held more people with mental illness than the largest psychiatric inpatient facilities in the United States. Unfortunately they are neither intended to be psychiatric hospitals nor are they usually institutionally organized to address psychiatric treatment needs.
  
  Nearly 2/3 of boys and 3/4 of girls detained in juvenile facilities were found to have at least one psychiatric disorder, with approximately 25% of these juveniles experiencing disorders so severe that their ability to function was significantly impaired. (Please note that I am fully in support of a mental health court that has broad eligibility for juveniles, misdemeanor, and felony defendants.)
  
  Nearly 1/2 of mentally ill prisoners are incarcerated for a non-violent crime.
  
  Mentally ill prisoners are incarcerated at Riker's Island for an average of 215 days; whereas for non-mentally ill inmates, the average stay is 42 days.
  
  In conclusion, I do believe that defendants with mental disabilities are not being served well by our traditional court systems. The creation of a Mental Health Unit in the District Attorney's Office to work in a dedicated Mental Health Court has the potential to reduce recidivism, save money by providing effective treatment in place of incarceration, and improve the quality of life in New York County.
  
  Furthermore, because there are no universal standards governing the jurisdiction and practices of mental health courts - New York County will have substantial flexibility in designing and implementing a Mental Health Court that will best serve the needs of its uniquely diverse community. I suggest that New York should set high goals and seek to establish programs for juveniles, misdemeanor and felony defendants in order to, among other important factors, reduce overall recidivism and improve outcomes for defendants with mental illness and mental disabilities.
Civil Rights

Has/will your office prosecute personal care attendants who abuse their charges (disabled/ seniors)? Please cite case, and provide any advice on how to successfully prosecute these cases?

I have not been involved in a case of this nature. As Manhattan DA, I would investigate and where appropriate charge violations of the criminal law that affected the disabled.

Specifically, I take abuse of the elderly and disabled very seriously and we will prosecute cases of abuse to the fullest. These people have a special responsibility to care for others and it is critical that they do not abuse this special position. The few people who do abuse their power in these situations give a bad name to the industry and should be punished accordingly.

At present, the District Attorney's office has an Elder Abuse Program based in the Special Prosecutions Unit. I intend to advocate for a much more robust Elder Abuse Program in the District Attorney's office that would also work with social service agencies and appropriate government agencies to train staff to recognize different forms of elder abuse. As well, we would work with financial institutions (banks) to educate employees about financially focused elder abuse. At the same time, it is critical for us to have community affairs outreach to senior centers and NYC Department of the Aging to alert them to new schemes aimed at the elderly, including Internet scams or home contracting scams, and tenant/landlord relations.

In conclusion, the District Attorney's office has a responsibility to make sure that seniors are protected from abuse from their caregivers, and this responsibility would be a very high priority for my office.

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