As decadeslong inequities in New York’s court system reach a breaking point, court leaders and reformers say fixing the state’s intricate court structure could lead to solutions. But politics and skepticism might stand in the way.
Before March 31, this was a common scenario in New York's poorer neighborhoods: Police officers approach a group of young men, one says he smells marijuana, so he and his colleagues frisk everybody present. The Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act has upended that scenario completely.