Critics like Mayor Eric Adams say bail reform should be rolled back. Are they right?
Queens residents, community group protest District Attorney Melinda Katz demanding she takes immediate action to stop Covid-19 spread and decarcerate. Queens, New York/USA July 13, 2020 (Shutterstock) By Josefa Velasquez and Rachel Holliday Smith, THE CITY The subway shoving death of Michelle Go and murder of Christina Yuna Lee in Chinatown last weekend have once […]
For the prosecutors and law enforcement officials fear-mongering about bail, the real issue has never been about safety. It’s about power.
By Jared Trujillo & Simon McCormack, NYCLU In 2019, the New York State Legislature passed a bail reform law that pushed New York’s criminal legal system in the right direction. The law – though it didn’t end cash bail altogether – was a nod to the idea that no New Yorker should be forced to […]
Although the new law took effect in January, state data showing how courts are applying it won’t be available until July 2021. And without funding, courts in small towns and villages may never collect the data.
By Steven Yoder, TheAppeal.org Before New York State’s bail reform law passed in April 2019, police, sheriffs, and prosecutors warned of dire consequences. “I think that it could cause some havoc,” said Kristyna Mills, Jefferson County’s district attorney. Jim VanBrederode, police chief in the town of Gates, warned that without bail, those arrested wouldn’t have a reason to show up in […]
