Tell Lawmakers not to Fall for the Bail Reform Trap…before it’s too late.
Bail reform has sputtered in New York for years.
The reason is simple – New York already has a functioning reformed bail system. New York’s system is already a reasonable balance of accountability – with judges exercising their judicial discretion to release without bail first-time offenders and low-level misdemeanors. Many of the other issues that underpin the bail reform debate have already been handled in New York.
Enter S3579A, the “Bail Elimination Act of 2018” and A9955, “Securing Orders and Release on non-monetary conditions.”
S3579A expands the use of preventative detention in New York—which is caging human beings by denying unconvicted defendants the right to bail because we label them dangerous. New York has rejected this notion for a generation because New Yorkers know that giving the government the power to deny the right to bail would be abused.
This abuse of preventative detention proved true in the federal system since the Supreme Court gave the federal government the power to lock people up without bail in 1984—the feds have increased the rate of detaining people without bail by 303%.
The right to bail is fundamental, and New York should not deny the right to bail in favor of blindly trammeling on other liberties.
Click Here to Email Lawmakers and Urge NO to New York Bail Reform
If that is not bad enough, the legislation directly calls for adoption of Chris Christie’s New Jersey bail reform plan. Unfortunately, that plan has proven to be a complete government boondoggle that makes Bridge-Gate look like child’s play. The poster child of “catch and release,” New Jersey’s system is releasing violent and dangerous offenders on nothing more than a “promise” and free bus pass. Law enforcement are angered, citizens are furious, and career criminals are laughing their way out of custody before the arresting officer has finished his shift. New York cannot afford this wholesale destruction of criminal accountability.
New Jersey’s massive new bureaucracy created – like that proposed in S3579A and A9955 – an actual deficit in three months, and is running a structural deficit of millions and millions of taxpayer dollars. New Jersey literally cannot afford the Bail Reform Act it passed.
Further, the results have been terrible—the jails have become a revolving door allowing career criminals to victimize the community, such has Jules Black, a felon in possession of an illegal handgun who was released the next day for free only to violently kill his neighbor days later.
What does New Jersey and New Mexico’s new bail reform look like? Click on any photo to find out…
The “Bail Elimination of Act of 2018” will not put New York on the forefront of bail reform as the sponsors suggest. In fact, S3579A and A9955, will follow the lead of New Jersey, and turn New York into the next bail reform disaster.
S3579A and A9955 will cost the state and local governments millions upon millions of dollars and create soft criminal accountability by creating a revolving door for criminals – all while blindly trammeling on the rights of New Yorkers rather than allowing New Yorkers to keep their right to bail as they have had it for generations.
New Yorkers need to reject S3579A and A9955—recycled pieces of junk shipped to New York from New Jersey.
ACT NOW and Email Your Legislators here or click on the link to open the Action Center in new window – urge them to VOTE NO on S3579A and A9955!
My address can’t be verified??? I’ve been living here for 9 years. It IS an apartment house.
Sorry Margaret. The platform uses google maps. Try shortening the address – and thank you for the support!