12 JANUARY 9, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Time to tweak cash bail reforms
As lawmakers stream back to
Albany this week for the start of
the new legislative session, they
will be tasked with fi xing New York’s
cash bail reform that was part of the
criminal justice law changes pushed
by the Democratic majority and signed
into law.
Blow back from law and order Republicans
and many in law enforcement has
been intense in the week since the new
law went into eff ect removing detention
and cash bail for nearly all misdemeanors
and non-violent felony cases such as
stalking, larceny and assault as a hate
crime.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo addressed the
brewing controversy Monday calling
bail reforms a work in progress.
“Bail reform is right. But changing
the system is complicated and then has
a number of ramifi cations,” Cuomo said.
“There are other changes that need to be
made.”
Attorney General Letitia James said
the new bail laws should be revisited by
lawmakers.
“Safety should be the fi rst priority,”
she said.
EDITORIAL
Mayor Bill de Blasio and his new Police Commissioner Dermot Shea expressed their concerns about cash bail
reforms that were implemented Jan. 1. Courtesy of de Blasio’s offi ce
Social-justice advocates hailed the
new bail reforms and made the case that
people facing criminal charges would
be released anyway if they could aff ord
to post bail and the old laws penalized
poor people who couldn’t post bail.
“The whole idea of the bail reform is
that someone should not be held in simply
because they can’t aff ord bail, and
we all saw plenty of horrible examples
of that,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said. “Kalief
Browder is the worst example but there
were many.”
The controversy comes at a time
where anti-Semitic attacks have rocked
the metropolitan area including the machete
attack on the Orthodox community
in Monsey in Rockland County. A
Brooklyn Assemblyman has proposed
legislation that would bring back cash
bail for hate crimes.
State Senator Michael Gianaris, one
of the chief architects of the criminal
justice reform laws, told reporters he
is open to discussing changes.
“Everyone is obviously concerned
about the severity of hate crimes and
the outbreak of hate crimes,” Gianaris
said. “I expect that this conversation
will be one that unfolds over the next
several weeks, and we will do what’s appropriate
to keep everybody safe and to
also keep the system fair.”
We suggest amending the statute to
reinstitute judicial discretion to assess
whether a person is too dangerous to
be released and, at the very least, give
judges more options when dealing with
hate crimes.
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ESTABLISHED 1908
Co-Publishers
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Reporters
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CARLOTTA MOHAMED
MAX PARROTT
BILL PARRY
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