Across the country, we’re seeing movements achieve historic wins for fairness, racial justice, public health, and public safety. A new law ending cash bail in Illinois. Prosecutors in California, who care more about fairness than punishment. Marijuana legalization in New York that reinvests in communities. Yet prosecutors and police are fighting back with the same polarizing scare tactics that created mass incarceration to perpetuate it. We must demand justice not fear.
The honest truth about bail reform written by criminal justice experts
A Fox News story repeated false claims by Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who spread misinformation by claiming that a man accused of injuring a police officer during a motor vehicle theft in 2020 was free because of bail reform.
Fact Check: False, Fearmongering, Misleading
The man was not free because of bail reform, and it is a lie to suggest otherwise.
New York City Council Member James Gennaro spread misinformation and fearmongered about bail, discovery, and other modest criminal legal reforms. His claims were amplified by news outlets including QNS.
Fact Check: False, Fearmongering, Misleading
“Dangerousness” has never been a standard for setting bail in New York, and the state definitively declined to adopt it in the 1970s—and for good reason.
The New York Post falsely claimed that a man was freed because of pretrial reforms.
Fact Check: False, Fearmongering, Misleading
No pre-trial reforms impacted this case in any way.
Mayor Adams falsely claimed that people on their ninth arrest and those accused of shootings and other violent felony offenses are not having bail set because of modest pre-trial reforms.
Fact Check: False, Fearmongering, Misleading
Pre-trial reform has had no impact on these types of cases.
Gubernatorial candidate Rep. Tom Suozzi falsely claimed that New York’s bail reform laws were connected to the mass shooting in Buffalo by a white supremacist.
Fact Check: Fearmongering, False
The Buffalo shooter had no prior convictions and was not out on bail.
Mayor Eric Adams falsely blamed a recent shooting on bail reform when the person involved was, according to police, awaiting sentencing after having pled guilty. Anything that happens after trial or a plea has been taken has no connection to bail whatsoever.
Fact Check: False, Fearmongering
The shooting that took place in the Bronx on Tuesday night has no connection to pretrial freedom. Anything that happens after trial or a plea has been taken has no connection to bail whatsoever.
The Monroe County Sheriff attempted to tie bail reform to a recent rise in shootings without supportive data. This increase is occurring in jurisdictions across the country and is not tied to bail reform.
Fact Check: False, Fearmongering
Just yesterday, the C.D.C issued a report on surging nation-wide gun deaths in the pandemic’s first year. This increase is occurring in jurisdictions across the country and is not tied to bail reform.
Gov. Hochul’s proposal to roll back modest reforms threatens hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers. It is based on a concerted disinformation campaign by anti-reform officials and lobbyists.
Fact Check: Fearmongering, False
All New Yorkers deserve safety, and the safest communities have the greatest resources—not the highest incarceration rates.
NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell has joined calls to roll back bail reform, falsely claiming that judges are legally prohibited from ever setting bail.
Fact Check: Fearmongering, False
The law, C.P.L. § 510.10, defines bail-eligible charges. These include felonies classified as violent, certain misdemeanors including sexual offenses, any charge against a person on parole or probation, and certain rearrests for otherwise non-bail-eligible charges.
This piece from the Manhattan Institute cites multiple clearly discredited stories in support of the false proposition that modest reforms in New York are to blame for causing widespread harm in New York City.
Fact Check: Fearmongering, False
Among much else, this piece relies on the NYPD's account of the case of a Bronx teenager that was fully discredited by video footage.
The NYPD claimed that a teenager shot a police officer and then walked free because of lax bail laws was recently debunked in the courtroom.
Fact Check: Fearmongering, False
Judge Naita Semaj determined that NYPD Officer Taulant Gjonbalaj and his colleagues lied in this case, finding the “incredible…self serving” police testimony “had no value.” Video fully discredited the police account.
The Syracuse Police Department falsely claimed that a teen's rearrest on gun charges was tied to bail. WAER reprinted these claims without any correction or further information.
Fact Check: Fearmongering, False
Possessing a firearm is a bail-eligible offense. This case was in no way related to bail reform.
"Our leaders should be demanding more pretrial freedom, not less. Increasing pretrial incarceration does not advance public safety and won’t help strengthen our communities."
"Rising gun violence over the past two years makes bail reform and other common-sense measures an easy target. However, when we blame the wrong cause, we miss the opportunity to identify the right solutions."
"The survey results revealed that the vast majority of criminal defense attorneys across New York State believe that discovery reform has achieved the desired results and has positively impacted not only their ability to provide competent representation, but also the fairness of New York’s criminal justice system."
"In over 40 years in criminal justice, I’ve often witnessed elected officials seek to aggrandize themselves during times of heightened fear. That is how the current era of mass incarceration was born."
"'Melania Brown, Akeem Browder, and many more who have been bound together through the pain of losing a loved one behind bars have dedicated their lives to preventing other families from experiencing that same grief. However, these brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters turned activists now believe there will be a lot more grief spread if the Governor continues her present course."
"With just days remaining before New York State’s budget deadline, Hochul’s last minute plan—which was dropped on the same day of another tragic death at Rikers Island—would roll back bail reform and expand pretrial detention rates statewide, while doing nothing to advance true safety."
"The death of my brother Kalief Browder sparked an international outcry — not just because of the terrible injustices he faced, but because he defied the odds, refused to plead guilty to a crime he did not commit, and demanded fairness. In honor of his fight, I have been demanding fairness, too, through the Kalief Browder Foundation. Now is a moment we must all rise up to stop a new plan by Gov. Hochul that could lead to countless more tragedies like the one my family suffered."
"Some pundits and policymakers are still blaming New York’s bail reform legislation for recent rises in violent crime. But what we know so far does not support this claim. Indeed, new data suggests that our state’s enactment of bail reform did not drive the increases in violent crime. Rather than rehashing the bail reform debate, it’s time for Albany to look for effective, community-led solutions to violent crime."
"There is no clear connection between recent crime increases and the bail reform law enacted in 2019, and the data does not currently support further revisions to the legislation."
"'The data is clear that bail reform is not a contributor to the increase in crime,' Lander told the Daily News. 'I think it’s important to base our policy on facts rather than fear. So whatever people’s position is, I hope they will just take a look at the data.'"
"'The data continues to reflect that the changes we made in bail are not correlated to the growth in gun violence or physical violence towards others on the streets,' [Sen. Kreuger] said Friday."
"Video fully discredited the police account. But the case and fearmongering coverage had already been used to denigrate the young person, undermine any presumption of his innocence, and mislead the public to believing that modest pre-trial reforms in New York were to blame."
