New Orleans DA Jason Williams addressed the controversy over the increased number of 701 releases during his tenure. The DA said his office “owns” the increased number, and vowed to shake up staffing and reallocate resources to rectify the situation.
“These numbers are the result of a system breakdown, and because it happened on my watch we are taking swift and corrective action to on every single level to correct these numbers,” said Williams.
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701 releases occur when a person is not charged within a certain amount of time after they are arrested. If someone is not charged within 30 days of a misdemeanor, 60 days of most felonies, and 120 days of murder, they are released from jail or bond obligations.
Opponents argue this rise in 701s has been a purposeful policy decision aimed at lowering incarceration, but Williams said it’s not the result of progressive reforms, but of staffing issues. Williams said he ran for office vowing to bring charges within five days, but only if there was enough evidence to support a case.
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Williams laid out a series of major staffing shakeups and reassignments that he said should help clear out their “backlog” of cases that is building up in the post-pandemic violent crime surge. He also implored the city to increase his funding so that he could hire additional staff.
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“We have millions of dollars sitting in city coffers from the federal government, earmarked for this exact need that have not been used to surge back,” said Williams.
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