All the hemming and hawing over Bush's upcoming Supreme Court nomination makes it sound as if the Justices make a real difference with their interpretations of the law. OK, maybe they do, but scores of New York cops and prosecutors sure don't need no stinkin' Supreme Court to tell them who the outlaws are. They've happily continued to lock people up under a law that the Supremes declared unconstitutional 13 years ago.
An anti-begging law ruled unconstitutional in 1992 has since been used in more than 1,800 arrests and prosecutions statewide, a Daily News analysis of court data found. Among The News' findings: The arrests, 71% of them in New York City, resulted in hundreds of people being held in jail while awaiting court hearings. Some of those arrested on charges they had loitered for the purpose of begging were ultimately sentenced to jail time on a charge that was supposedly no longer on the books. Hundreds more were the subjects of outstanding arrest warrants based on the charge.
The paper's analysis included arrests through June of 2004, so the real number of people brought up on bogus charges might exceed 2,000 statewide.
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