Hon. Andrea Stewart-Cousins
President and Majority Leader of the New York State Senate
State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12247
Hon. Carl E. Heastie
Speaker of the New York State Assembly
State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12248
Dear Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and Speaker Heastie:
We urge you to reject Governor Hochul’s proposal to weaken New York State’s bail laws and instead call on you to make evidence-backed investments in real community safety. All available data demonstrates the success of bail reform in New York State – reducing pre-trial jailing and increasing court appearance rates without impacting re-arrest rates. Still, extreme racial disparities persist for people held in New York’s jails. The data is clear: Further rollbacks to the bail laws will not increase public safety, but will send more Black, brown and working class New Yorkers to jail to await their trial, increasing wrongful convictions, further entrenching poverty and inequity, and destabilizing individuals and communities – ultimately making New York less safe.
Everyone has a right to be safe and lawmakers need to take bold action to prevent and respond to violence. But if we blame the wrong cause, we end up with the wrong solution. The politicized focus on bail reform distracts from what is truly needed. The safest communities have the best schools, the highest-paying jobs, the most stable housing, the greatest access to health care, including mental health care and drug treatment, and more. In the interest of community safety and equity, lawmakers must heed demands for deep investments and policy changes to fill these massive gaps.
The Governor’s proposal is a solution in search of a problem. In her State of the State, the Governor acknowledged that the changes to the bail laws are unrelated to crime rates. Instead, the Governor has justified the proposed changes in the law as an attempt to provide clarity and remove confusion for judges. Yet her proposal would do the opposite, eliminating wholesale the longstanding requirement that judges set “the least restrictive” condition that “will reasonably assure [a person’s] return to court” when making a pretrial release determination, without offering any replacement. Instead, judges would be left with a list of factors to consider and no standard whatsoever to guide their decision-making. Individual judges would be left to rely on their own biases and make up the law as they go. Moreover, a representative from the Office of Court Administration testified judges are not confused by the current standard, which has been in place for decades.
We agree with you, Speaker Heastie: “Access to housing, mental health crises, access to meaningful employment, and addiction are drivers of poverty & crime – that’s where our focus should be. Not using buzz words to score political points and offer nothing more than reactive solutions.” We also agree with you, Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins: "Everyone understands the importance of increasing public safety, but succumbing to national Republican fear mongering around bail reform, misses the opportunity to adopt real solutions. Facts matter. Study after study ― as covered by Newsday, the Times Union and the NY Times ― have shown that bail reform has had no effect on the crime rate. And while crime remains at historically low levels, the proliferation of guns on our streets is historically high. We need truth ― not fear ― to guide our responses to this crisis."
The Legislature should reject any further weakening of bail reform, and instead focus on real solutions to community safety.
Sincerely,
#HALTsolitary Campaign
A Little Piece of Light
Amawalk Quaker Meeting/Religious Society of Friends
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Long Island
Bronx Defenders BronxConnect
Brooklyn Defender Services Center for Law and Justice
Chemung County Public Advocate's Office
Chief Defenders Association of New York
Children's Defense Fund-New York
Chinese-American Planning Council
Church Women United in New York State
Citizen Action of New York
Citizens' Committee for Children of New York Close Rosie's
Community Voices Heard Power
CUNY Parole Advocacy Project
Decarcerate the Hudson Valley
Discovery for Justice
Downtown Independent Democrats Emergency Release
Empower Long Island Envision Freedom Fund
Erie County Bar Association's Assigned Counsel Program
Exodus Transitional Community
Families For Freedom For the Many
Free the People Rochester Free the People WNY Freedom Agenda
fwd.us
Gangstas Giving Back
Gender Equality New York Hour Children
Hudson Catskill Housing Coalition
Human Rights Watch
Innocence Project
Interfaith Advocates for Fair Law Enforcement
Irvington Activists
Jews For Racial & Economic Justice (JFREJ)
Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club
Justice and Unity for the Southern Tier (JUST)
Justice Ministries Committee of the Presbytery of New York City
Long Island Social Justice Action Network
Metro Medical Transportation
Middle East Crisis Response
MomsRising
National Action Network - NYC Chapter Second Chance Committee
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) - Huntington
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) - Queens
National Lawyers Guild - Mass Incarceration Committee
Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem
New Hour for Women and Children
New York Civil Liberties Union
New York Communities for Change
New York County Defender Services
New York Progressive Action Committee - Greene
New York Progressive Action Network
New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
New York State Defenders Association
New York State Jails Justice Network
New York Working Families Party Newburgh LGBTQ+ Center
North Bronx Racial Justice North Star Fund
Osborne Association Partnership for the Public Good Peace & Planet News
PEER/NYPAN Suffolk County, Progressive East End Reformers Policing and Social Justice Project
Re/Creation
Release Aging People in Prison Campaign (RAPP) Restorative Action Alliance
Rise and Resist NY
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative (RMAPI)
Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) - Rochester
Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) NYC
Steffel Wellness Services, Inc.
The Criminal Justice and Employment Initiative (CJEI) at Cornell University
The Fortune Society
The Gathering for Justice
The Legal Aid Society
The Social Justice Network
United Christian Leadership Ministry
United Voices of Cortland
Urban Justice Center
Veterans For Peace - New York City
VOCAL-NY
Voice Buffalo
Walkabout Clearwater Chorus
Wayne County Public Defender
WESPAC Foundation, Inc.
Westchester Coalition for Police Reform (WCPR)
Westchester for Change
Women & Justice Project
Women's Diversity Network
Youth Over Guns
Youth Represent
