The Briefing:
Law enforcement officials dehumanized a New Yorker in a series of depraved news articles and social media posts about a man arrested multiple times in the city’s transit system.
Fact Check: False, Cruel
Beyond fearmongering and lying about bail reform, the articles and posts prove the point that law enforcement care only about jailing more New Yorkers. NYPD named the wrong judge and wrong DA in its critical posts. Above all, law enforcement’s attacks on the man are cruel and serve to obfuscate NYPD’s own ineptitude and ineffectiveness.
A study on the effects of bail reform concludes, once again, that bail reform does not increase crime. Eliminating the ability of judges to detain someone accused of a crime does not drive crime and may in fact reduce crime.
Fact Check: Bail Reform Works
Due to a mistaken belief about relevant legal standards, the study makes an incorrect conclusion relating to recidivism in people charged with bail eligible crimes.
Law enforcement, political leaders, and media outlets have seized the story of an assault on a police officer to baselessly link the incident to New York’s bail reform laws.
Fact Check: False
Not only does the case have nothing to do with bail reform, but the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has been transparent in its challenge of identifying the people responsible and their relative levels of culpability. Innocent people should not be jailed indefinitely.
A recent op-ed written by a Manhattan Institute fellow is littered with misleading or outright false claims, misconstrued data, and logical fallacies about the effect of discovery reform.
Fact Check: False
The truth is discovery reform does not cause crime and does not create any additional burden for law enforcement to furnish evidence to people charged with crimes.
A report from the CUNY Institute for State & Local Governance found that media coverage of pretrial reform was “incomplete, and in some cases, inaccurate."
Fact Check: Misleading
The research is yet another example that demonstrates the way sensational and cynical news coverage undermines public safety by misleading readers about the effects of common sense criminal justice reforms.
A state senator has proposed a plan to incarcerate more people in a misguided attempt to reduce car thefts.
Fact Check: Misleading
There are already serious consequences for car theft, and Senator Jeremy Cooney’s overbroad bill fails to acknowledge the devastating implications of pretrial detention and the root causes of crime and instances of harm.
A news story about the tragic death of a child in the Bronx falsely connected the incident to bail reform and suggested a range of failed solutions to address America's opioid crisis.
Fact Check: False
The case has nothing to do with bail reform, and reflects an archaic and flawed logic that more drug arrests mean more safety, when the facts show that tough-on-crime policies have only exacerbated our country’s challenges with drugs and substance use.
Law enforcement and elected officials bemoaned the due process afforded by New York’s criminal justice system after a judge opted not to set bail in a case where a man was charged with assaulting a police officer in Yonkers.
Fact Check: Fearmongering
Pro-carceral voices do not care about the statutory purpose of bail, instead hoping for a world where anyone charged with a crime is not afforded due process and is instead “punished” immediately with pretrial detention. The case out of Yonkers presents a compelling example of the bail system in New York working as intended.
An article about speedy trial dismissals misled readers about the effects of New York's discovery laws.
Fact Check: Misleading
Discovery reform did not create onerous burdens on prosecutors to produce new evidence in order to comply with state laws, nor did it cause any increase in violent felony case dismissals.
Albany County District Attorney David Soares once again exploited a tragedy to make a political point, lying about the state's Raise the Age laws.
Fact Check: False
There is no evidence that the homicides were committed by a child or by someone with a criminal history, but that did not stop Soares from trying to score political points and advocate for policies that will put more vulnerable people in jail.
Law enforcement officials scapegoated bail reform and lied about the effects of modest criminal justice reforms on public safety following the shooting of state trooper in Duanesberg late last week.
Fact Check: False, Fearmongering
Though the case has nothing to do with bail reform, the New York State Police Investigators Association attempted to tie the case to bail reform, and the state troopers union took the extraordinary step of publicly criticizing the judge in the case for exercising his discretion to set bail.
A WNYT news report allowed law enforcement officials in an Albany County community to mislead the public about bail reform and fearmonger about a man who has been arrested multiple times.
Fact Check: Misleading
Instead of advocating for investments in communities that actually work, Centanni and Soares cynically take aim at the state’s bail reform laws – which have been rolled back three times, allowing for more pretrial detention – for not being punitive enough.
A three-minute news segment on Gov. Hochul’s regressive bail reform rollbacks is riddled with lies and misleading information about state law.
Fact Check: False
The WIVB piece quotes “legal experts” who fearmonger and lie about bail reform. The misinformation comes as Gov. Hochul prepares to forge ahead with her dangerous proposal to weaken civil rights protections and unnecessarily jail more New Yorkers.
Gov. Kathy Hochul stated that a desire to avoid sensational newspaper headlines is a driving factor in her crusade to remove the “least restrictive means” standard that judges use when making bail decisions.
Fact Check: Fearmongering
Hochul’s decision to pacify cynical media outlets that actively lie about bail reform and undermine support for a successful policy instead of her constituents is another example of the governor choosing politics and optics over the lives of New Yorkers.
Republican elected officials and their representatives falsely claimed bail reform and Raise the Age were responsible for a criminal act on a Staten Island train platform.
Fact Check: False
The crime in question has no connection to bail reform, Raise the Age, or any criminal justice reform aimed at making the system more fair and just.
As a small group of prosecutors continues its 11th hour campaign to undo New York’s discovery reform laws behind closed doors, Justice Not Fear is debunking common myths and talking points about the law and the regressive proposed changes.
Fact Check: False
The truth is that 1) discovery reform is not creating any unjust outcomes; 2) the reforms do not create any “onerous” burden for prosecutors and; 3) the proposed changes are no “tweak” and would undermine the efficacy of the original law.
Congressional Republicans traveled to Manhattan to hold a sham Judiciary Committee hearing Monday morning that fearmongered about crime in New York City with the ultimate goal of undermining Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution of former president Donald Trump.
Fact Check: False
Meanwhile, the same New York City leaders and police officials who have been cynically claiming that rollbacks to bail reform are necessary took to the media to push back against House Republican lies about crime. In doing so, they exposed their own lies in the months-long campaign for mass pretrial detention.
New York district attorneys are reportedly pushing for massive changes to New York’s discovery reforms passed in 2019 that brought the state in line with the rest of the country.
Fact Check: False
The proposed changes to the law – falsely styled as a technical tweak – would entirely undo the reforms in practice by creating case delays, shifting the compliance burden from the prosecution to the defense, and encouraging DAs to withhold discovery.
City officials advocated this week for expanded services and alternatives to pretrial incarceration for people arrested multiple times in New York City, arguing that service-based interventions can reduce crime and that pretrial incarceration should be a “last resort.”
Fact Check: True
Researchers also released arrest data this week that debunks Gov. Kathy Hochul’s claim that bail reform emboldened a small group of people allegedly responsible for crimes in the city.
The New York Daily News editorial board encouraged legislators to ignore all available facts about bail reform in an editorial supporting Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal to remove the “least restrictive means” standard in bail-eligible cases.
Fact Check: False
The Daily News continues to play a key role in misleading the public about bail reform. The piece based its argument on a misleading Siena poll that inaccurately queried New Yorkers about Hochul’s proposal.
Gov. Kathy Hochul lied to the public about bail reform again in a press conference this week, falsely claiming that her proposal to remove the “least restrictive means” standard is backed up by data and that an “inconsistency” currently exists within the bail laws.
Fact Check: False
Authors of a recent study on bail reform not-so-subtly rejected Hochul’s proposal, and there is no “inconsistency” found in a section of the bail law that has existed for decades.
In the most recent example of reckless criminal justice reporting, a CBS News article falsely linked a Manhattan shooting with bail reform and Governor Hochul’s efforts to rollback the “least restrictive means” standard.
Fact Check: False
A police official told reporters that bail was set and paid in the underlying case, meaning the case has nothing to do with bail reform. The article lied to readers by linking an instance of gun violence with bail reform and editorializing that the case will “stoke debate” in Albany.
Ray Tierney called for a series of unimaginative and failed solutions to address the state’s challenging opioid crisis.
Fact Check: False
We have decades of evidence showing that Tierney’s ideas – locking more people up pre-trial and enacting longer sentences for people convicted of drug crimes – do not work, instead magnifying harm that disproportionately affects Black and Brown New Yorkers.
Media coverage of Governor Hochul’s radical proposal to eliminate the “least restrictive means” standard once again failed to challenge the governor’s illogical and unsubstantiated claims, misleading readers and continuing a pattern of undermining support for a successful policy.
Fact Check: Misleading
The issue is clear. There is no inconsistency in the law and no reason judges should be confused about a standard that has existed for decades. Moreover, top court officials told lawmakers at a joint hearing that judges don’t need additional training to understand the state’s bail laws.
A tragic and troubling crime is being falsely tied to bail reform in the media this week, distracting from the ongoing success of bail reform
Fact Check: False
This case has nothing to do with bail reform. The man accused of the crime was released from pretrial detention in 2020 because prosecutors violated his right to a speedy trial, not because of bail reform. He also had already pleaded guilty, so bail was no longer an issue in his case.
Albany County District Attorney David Soares’ recent op-ed in the New York Post is riddled with inaccuracies, data manipulation, and outright lies.
Fact Check: False
Bail reform is not a driver of crime, and advocating for carceral policies harms marginalized communities.
A recent op-ed and editorial underscore the media’s role in creating a gap in the public’s perception and the reality of New York’s bail reform laws.
Fact Check: False
Copaganda and misleading media coverage has undermined support for bail reform. Media coverage of bail reform has outpaced the increases in crime in New York City, and coverage of bail reform in the media spikes leading up to elections and rollbacks.
New York lawmakers heard no testimony to support Governor Kathy Hochul’s unsubstantiated claims that judges are confused and inconsistencies exist within the state’s bail laws.
Fact Check: False
Instead, the testimony often focused on the dangerous implications of Hochul’s proposal to remove the least restrictive means standard in bail-eligible cases.
Governor Kathy Hochul proposed eliminating the “least restrictive means” standard that judges use as a guiding principle in bail-eligible cases, stating she believes there are “inconsistencies” in the law as written.
Fact Check: Regressive
But Hochul has not identified what the inconsistencies are, and her proposal does away with a standard that has existed for decades in New York law and ensures more New Yorkers will suffer the dehumanizing and deadly impact of pretrial jailing.
Despite years of data pointing to the contrary, Republicans continued to falsely dispute bail reform’s efficacy. Lawmakers attempted to suggest that DCJS data could be undercounting the number of people who are not returning to court following bail reform.
Fact Check: False
A deeper dive into the data and the law demonstrates that bail reform has nothing to do with any gaps in DCJS data, and that there is no reason to believe failure-to-appear rates have increased.
A recent report falsely claims that discovery reform laws have hamstrung New York’s criminal legal system. The Manhattan Institute’s report relies on flawed data and problematic assumptions to attempt to tie discovery reform to increases in crime in New York.
Fact Check: False
In reality, the dataset cited by the report points to the fact that discovery reform is working as intended. Discovery reform has caused prosecutors to take a long-needed look at the types of cases they prosecute. The laws did not create a burden to seek out any information, documents, or evidence that is not in the control of law enforcement in the vast majority of cases
Representative Elise Stefanik and 10 New York Congressional Republicans introduced federal legislation this week to encourage New York to adopt a dangerousness standard in bail decisions, a proposal that would widen a judge’s ability to speculate about who might commit a future crime.
Fact Check: False
Dangerousness standards produce racist results and increased pretrial jail populations while further introducing ambiguity and opacity into our criminal legal system. Any dangerousness standard would only further exacerbate racial disparities in New York’s jails, where Black and brown people make up 73 percent of New Yorkers incarcerated in jail but 36 percent of the state’s population.
In her State of the State book, Governor Hochul proposed eliminating the “least restrictive means necessary” standard that judges use when setting bail on eligible offenses, putting people in jail pretrial when she herself stated that bail reform does not drive crime and one’s freedom should not depend on one’s wealth.
Fact Check: Regressive
By eliminating the requirement that judges only set bail when “necessary,” Hochul is inviting judges to send people to jail when it is not necessary. Such a practice would violate the moral underpinning of the criminal justice system as well as the United States Constitution.
A new report demonstrates how persistent misinformation in the media about bail reform has undermined support for the modest reforms in New York.
Fact Check: True
The report from FWD.us, which builds on a similar 2021 report, clearly illustrates through a new data analysis that bail reform does not undermine public safety or contribute to any increases in crime. Freedom, Then the Press, Volume II finds that over 1,600 stories have falsely linked bail reform and crime despite the emerging studies that demonstrated low rearrest rates for people impacted by bail reform.
Adams falsely blamed bail reform for a sensational alleged assault in New York. Even though a judge set bail, the mayor misrepresented the effect of bail reform on the case and advocated for mass pretrial detention despite ongoing human rights violations and deaths at Rikers Island.
Fact Check: False
Bail reform had nothing to do with this case. The man charged in this case was not rearrested on pretrial release, nor was he released under bail reform. A judge had discretion to set bail in for the assault-related charges and chose to set bail at $7,500.
The New York Post once again fearmongered about bail reform in a story meant to scare readers and advocate for policies that seek to punish people instead of meeting their basic needs.
Fact Check: Fearmongering
The reality is that the Post’s story has more to do with our failed approach to public health and safety than it has to do with bail reform. Multiple arrests for the same alleged low-level offense indicate a person’s basic needs are not being met, not that the person should be jailed, likely on unaffordable bail. A person’s repeated contact with the criminal legal system is a sign of the system’s failure, not, as the Post suggests, a sign of the need for increased contact.
A former judge in Western New York described how judges routinely violated the statutory purpose of bail and misrepresented the bail reform law. Larson also showed a callous disregard for the harms of pretrial incarceration and fearmongered about rearrests.
Fact Check: False
Bail is meant to ensure a person’s appearance in court. But Larson, drawing on his experience on the bench, stated that when judges subjectively perceived someone to be a threat to the community, they would set bail “in the guise of concern over the defendant showing up in court.” Larson is admitting that judges regularly violated the statutory purpose of bail in New York.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman – whose the county was named safest in the United States twice since bail reform took hold – and his allies once again peddled misleading statistics in a politicized attempt to connect bail reform with increased arrest numbers in their community.
Fact Check: False
The very report Blakeman commissioned to try to undermine bail reform, actually proved the opposite: as multiple outlets confirmed, rearrest rates have actually declined since bail reform. And Blakeman's statistics actually point to the ongoing success of bail reform in Nassau County. According to the report, fewer than 10 percent of people in Nassau County were rearrested for any offense – which is half the statewide rearrest rate for any alleged offense.
The Post is weaponizing the tragic murder of a Black Erie County woman to argue for mass pretrial detention for thousands more Black people. In so doing, the Post is using its “news” department to scare New Yorkers into voting for a gubernatorial candidate who voted to overturn the 2020 election as Congressman and has promised to rollback a host of important criminal legal reforms in New York.
Fact Check: Fearmongering
The grief and pain that family, friends and community members feel is real and unimaginable. But the Post chose to exploit that pain for political points, using the victim's mother to tie the case to bail reform, when the reality is much more complicated.
Schenectady Police Chief Eric Clifford, along with several local politicians, fearmongered and misled the public about bail reform in an article in the Daily Gazette. Clifford falsely claimed that bail reform is connected to increases in crime, misrepresented the law, advocated for racist and opaque pretrial detention standards and lied about rearrests.
Fact Check: Fearmongering
First, years of research is conclusive and draws no connection between any increases in crime and bail reform. Next, the claim that bail reform changed law enforcement’s ability to detain people is misleading at best. Bail reform only affected some misdemeanors and low-level felonies. Judges can and do continue to set bail for people charged with violent felonies. Finally, we know that rearrests for violent felonies are exceptionally rare since bail reform went into effect.
The New York Daily News Editorial Board fearmongered about bail reform in a recent editorial and advocated for racist and opaque standards to be applied to pretrial detention decisions in New York that have long been rejected by New Yorkers.
Fact Check: Fearmongering
“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. Allowing a judge’s (or algorithm’s) prediction of “dangerousness” to serve as a basis for holding someone in jail while they are presumed innocent has clearly yielded racist results based on data from jurisdictions that allow this practice.
A former New York Supreme Court judge misled the public about bail reform laws in an interview with a Buffalo news station
Fact Check: Misleading
Judge Penny Wolfgang acknowledged that – as a sitting judge – she made bail decisions based on who she believed should or should not be in jail and not based on the statutory purpose of bail, which is to ensure a person’s return to future court dates. In short, she admitted that during her decades-long tenure as a judge, she violated the Constitution and law.
The tragic murder of an Erie County woman by her abusive partner has reignited misguided calls for carceral solutions to address sexual, domestic, and intimate partner violence (IPV). The Briefing outlines the often-devastating consequences of these carceral responses and explains why we should not rely on police and prosecutors to create better outcomes for survivors
Fact Check: Ineffective
We know that the safest communities are the ones with the most resources, not the highest jail populations. Early empirical results from voluntary pretrial diversion programs and community-based restorative justice practices suggest that they are more effective than traditional approaches in decreasing the likelihood of new arrests among perpetrators.
The New York Post once again seized on a sensational instance of crime to call for rollbacks to modest reforms and incite public outrage. After an alleged subway assault involving women in green morph suits was caught on video, the Post published multiple stories about what they termed the “Green Goblin” crew and allowed – without correction – a source in the story to falsely blame bail reform for the incident.
Fact Check: False
Bail reform had nothing to do with this case. The one person who has been arrested to date was charged with second-degree robbery – a Class C Violent Felony, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 3.5 years and maximum of 15. This charge, like all violent felonies, remains untouched by bail reform. A judge could have set bail in this case, but apparently opted for supervised release instead, apparently based in part on the individual’s relative lack of involvement.
The New York Post published yet another misleading and divisive story calculated to direct anger and hatred toward people in need of help and away from the failures of our current, misguided punishment-based approach to public health.
Fact Check: Misleading
The Post wrote about a New York resident’s history of arrests, suggesting his most recent arrests were a consequence of bail reform. This is false. The man’s record of arrest dates back to 2000, meaning that many, if not most of these arrests, predated bail reform entirely. Moreover, the recent incidents cited in the article are examples of attempted petty theft from major chain stores, in which nothing was actually stolen.
The New York Post continued to fearmonger and lie about bail reform amid a tragic killing on the subway last week, publishing an editorial falsely tying the incident to modest reforms.
Fact Check: False
Bail reform had nothing to do with the underlying case or the current case. Moreover, the Post lied about a "tide of violence" in New York. There is no “tide of violence” connected to bail reform. In New York City, incidents of violent crime are at historic lows. Rearrests for alleged violent crimes remained exceptionally rare after bail reform was enacted, just as before.
Albany County District Attorney David Soares lied to his constituents and the people of New York this past week about bail reform. First, Soares falsely scapegoated bail reform for instances of crime in his community without any information to back his claims up. Second, Soares lied about the prevalence of rearrests for gun possession when such cases are nearly non-existent. Third, Soares lied about which accusations bail reform cover. Finally, Soares advocated for increased pretrial detention of children.
Fact Check: False
In the wake of two unsolved shootings in Albany, Soares asserted, without evidence, that bail reform has “demonstrably impacted violent crime in our most vulnerable neighborhoods.” It is true that tragic instances of harm occur, but research draws no connection between bail reform and any increases in crime. Pretrial arrest rates for violent crimes are nearly identical pre- and post-bail reform.
A tragic killing on the subway is being used to call for rollback to modest bail laws because the man alleged to have committed the crime was free on pretrial supervision for separate charges.
Fact Check: False
Bail reform made no difference in this case. Neither the current case nor the man's underlying case had anything to do with bail reform. The man accused was not released on pretrial supervision because of bail reform at the time he allegedly committed this other act of violence. The earlier case from 2021, on which he was released, was a violent felony, which was eligible for bail before and after bail reform.
The vice president of New York City’s Transport Union added to the misinformation campaign about bail reform in New York by falsely scapegoating reform for a recent alleged attack by a New York man against a subway worker.
Fact Check: False, Fearmongering
The man who was arrested was not released under bail reform, nor rearrested while on pretrial release for another case. The man’s current charges – like all violent felonies and many misdemeanors and non-violent felonies – remain bail eligible, and he is currently detained on $5,000 in bail.
Several media outlets amplified misinformation this week by circulating false stories about the connection between bail reform and a New York resident, Pedro Hernandez, who currently stands accused of attempted murder.
Fact Check: Misleading
Outlets drew attention to a 2015 case where Hernandez was wrongfully detained for more than a year on unaffordable bail. Mr. Hernandez’s previous case had nothing to do with bail reform, which was not enacted until 2020. Had the new bail laws been in place at the time, Hernandez’s original charges would not have been bail eligible anyway, as bail reform only applies to misdemeanors and low-level felonies. His charge from 2015 was a violent felony.
Elected officials from Nassau County, the safest county in America for the two years since bail reform was enacted falsely blamed bail reform for crime and call on the New York State Legislature to needlessly revisit the modest laws.
Fact Check: False
The coalition of Nassau County mayors continued to amplify misinformation and ignore recent data from their own County police force that points to the ongoing success of bail reform.
NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell politicized crime to call for further unnecessary and costly changes to modest bail reform
Fact Check: False
New Yorkers – including NYPD Commissioner Sewell – should be celebrating the public policy success of New York bail reform, not lying to try to protect the status quo.
An upstate New York police department brazenly lied to the public when it claimed that bail reform was responsible for a judge’s decision to release a person without setting bail after being charged with first-degree rape.
Fact Check: Lies
First degree rape – like all violent felonies and numerous non-violent felonies and misdemeanors – is eligible for bail in New York. This was true before bail reform and remains true today.
In January, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman issued an executive order ordering the collection of crime data, confident that the information would back his relentless assault on bail reform laws. Instead, the data released this month support the truth: Bail reform does not lead to a rise in crime.
Fact Check: Fearmongering
Bail reform does not lead to a rise in crime.
The New York Post fearmongered about repeat offenses and bail reform while parroting unverified NYPD to support their claims. Actual data shows that bail reform has succeeded in reducing the injustice of pretrial incarceration and upholding public safety.
Fact Check: Fearmongering, False, Exploitative
Police data is unsubstantiated. Actual data shows that bail reform works.
GOP gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin has used an attack against him at a campaign event to lie to New Yorkers, falsely blaming the release of the man who attacked him on bail reform. Facts that emerged after the incident suggest otherwise: the Monroe County District Attorney, Sandra Doorley, was uncharacteristically lenient and chose not to charge a bail-eligible offense.
Fact Check: Fearmongering, False, Lies, Corruption
The person in question was released because the Monroe County District Attorney, under questionable circumstances, chose not to charge a bail-eligible offense.
Last week, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell credited the Adams administration with the reported decrease in murders and shooting incidents, but said bail reform was to blame for rearrests of people charged with crimes. This is a baseless claim that represents a continuation of the same old tactics from the NYPD.
Fact Check: False, Fearmongering, Misleading
There is no evidence that rearrests are tied to modest pretrial reform.
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.
The New York Post falsely claimed that the man’s release in a highly-publicized Bronx case was due to bail reform. In truth, just as prior to reform, this person's release was left to the discretion of the judge.
Fact Check: Fearmongering
It is a fallacy and distraction from discussions about advancing public safety to blame this upsetting occurrence on bail reform.
Multiple officials in Westchester County are fearmongering about rising crime and falsely tying a non-existent county crimewave to discovery and bail reform.
Fact Check: Fearmongering, False, Lies, Data
As the largest city in Westchester County, Yonkers is home to more than 20% of the total county population. And according to the numbers released by the County, crime in Westchester is way down.
The authors of both the resolution and this article clearly misunderstand—or are misrepresenting—the previous language and intent of New York’s bail statute and discovery reforms.
Fact Check: Misleading
The Cayuga County Legislature misrepresents the intent and impact of pretrial reforms.
Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder falsely blamed bail reform for a man’s freedom at the time of an alleged attempted burglary.
Fact Check: False, Fearmongering
Because the person accused of attempting to burglarize a nail salon was “released on bail” at the time of the incident, his prior charge was bail eligible and therefore release was not due to bail reform.
NYT headline implying that rolling back “tough-on-crime policies” is connected to any increase in violence is misleading.
Fact Check: Misleading
Increases in violence are occurring nationwide, and there is no evidence tying these increases to “progressive” policies or reforms.
“The police aren’t effective in keeping us safe. They’ve never done a good job of preventing crime of any sort,” Choimorrow said. “You need to address the broken systemic issues in our country around mental health, around economic gaps, around racial justice.”
Fact Check: Misleading
Pinning this tragedy on bail reform is a misguided distraction rather than a move toward public safety for everyone. Bail could have been set in the prior open cases of the person accused.
Federal Judge Dora Irizarry falsely claimed that people cannot be detained pre-trial for charges involving serious violence, such as shootings.
Fact Check: False, Fearmongering, Misleading, Abuse of Credibility
It is false to say that shooting-related charges are not bail eligible.
The New York Post fearmongered about shoplifters and bail reform while misrepresenting the law’s impact on a person with 167 prior arrests.
Fact Check: False, Fearmongering
Although the article says that the person’s case was not bail eligible, it is immediately clear that the case was bail-eligible, and that bail was set.
In two recent stories, Fox News exploited mothers whose lives have been directly affected by violence in order to further the anti-reform agenda.
Fact Check: Misleading
Like concerns about gun violence generally, the grief and suffering of these families is incredibly real. But to use them to push false narratives is exploitative.
Otsego District Attorney John Muehl, who has a history of opposing moves to lend oversight and transparency to prosecutorial practices, blamed his decision to retire rather than seek reelection on modest pre-trial reforms
Fact Check: False
Muehl made a series of lies about modest pre-trial reforms implemented. We debunk each every point in this briefing.
The New York Times ran a story with the headline, “Adams Blames Bail Law After Release of Teen Charged in Officer Shooting." The article later revealed that Eric Adams’s claim and position were not based in fact.
Fact Check: Misleading
Neither the bail law or bail reform had anything whatsoever to do with the case. A judge could and did set bail. Millions who saw the headline took away the opposite.
Mayor Adams released an official statement that falsely presented the circumstances of a teen’s case and wrongly stated that he was only free because a judge lacked the authority to detain him due to bail reform.
Fact Check: False
The judge had a full slate of options regarding pretrial conditions for the teen, from release to electronic monitoring to remand. He set bail. Moreover, Adams's version of the case was wildly misleading.
The article frames Gov. Hochul as “still” supporting bail reform “despite” the deaths of the police officers, intentionally misleading their audience.
Fact Check: False
The article, like many others, capitalizes on legitimate concern about gun violence by falsely shifting blame to bail reform.
Eric Adams's “Gun Violence Prevention Plan" falsely connected bail and discovery reform to gun violence, sought to undermine Raise the Age legislation, and falsely presented police and prosecutors as disempowered.
Fact Check: False
Each of Eric Adams's policy responses is fundamentally flawed and spreads misinformation.
ABC 7 misleadingly ties bail to the story of a man who allegedly shot at police and then was killed by police.
Fact Check: Misleading
Inclusion of bail status without critical context encourages the improper association between this sensationalized story and bail reform.
NYT reporter suggests protests after police murder of George Floyd caused police to pull back, which caused murder rates to increase.
Fact Check: False
The connection between the racial justice protests in 2020 and crime follows police talking points based on the widely-discredited "Ferguson Effect" theory.
Bronx DA Darcel Clark lied and falsely blamed her failure to prosecute a high profile case on “discovery reform.”
Fact Check: False
The case had been pending for more than two years prior to the implementation of discovery reform and was dismissed a year and a half after the law went into effect.
NYPD preemptively and falsely blamed their own failure to prevent or solve a store robbery on reform. The storeowner–unfortunately and through no fault of his own–believed them.
Fact Check: Fearmongering
There is nothing to suggest these thefts can be tied to any reforms. Bail, discovery, and prosecutorial reforms did not affect this case.
Opponents of bail reform continue to push the lie, despite available evidence, that bail reform has caused widespread harm.
Fact Check: False
New York State data on the rearrests of people who were free while awaiting trial further confirms that bail reform has had no negative effect on public safety.
Law Enforcement Supporting Republican State Legislators Renew Baseless Fear-Mongering Ahead of Election
Fact Check: False
As with the prior bail statute, judges have discretion to set bail or not and those who can afford it may pay bail and secure their release.
PBA President Pat Lynch Smears Reform in Radio Ad: Spreading disinformation in an attempt to tie a man’s alleged crimes to criminal justice reform
Fact Check: Lies/Fearmongering
Reform had no impact on these cases.
CBS Albany Cites Police Chief in Spreading Disinformation
Fact Check: Misleading & Lies
CBS Albany falsely attributes a person’s release to bail reform and repeats fearmongering list from police to smear new discovery reform
NYPD Continues Attempt to Falsely Connect Criminal Justice Reform to Crime, Mayor Tells Public Defenders Questioning Police Data to be "Ashamed"
Fact Check: Fearmongering
Statistics have simply not borne out the doomsday predictions that pro-police groups have been making.
Correction: "Wagner was released to alternatives to incarceration. The bail reform laws enacted Jan. 1 did not affect the purview of the Judge regarding his bail status."
Fact Check: Corrected
Rape charges and all sex offenses, including misdemeanor sex offenses, remain eligible for money bail and pre-trial jailing under the new laws.
Man accused of breaking MetroCard machines released pre-trial under supervision.
Fact Check: Fearmongering
“We have to stop blaming bail reform for failures of our social safety net and we must recognize the previous approach failed in much more traumatic ways.”
"District Attorney blames Bail Reform for man's overdose death."
Fact Check: Fearmongering
A prosecutor exploits a death to smear bail reform by suggesting, wrongly, that jail was the best place for someone struggling with substance use disorder.
"Library security guard's accused killer was free without bail on attempted rape charge"
Fact Check: Lies
It is simply inaccurate to state that bail reform was the reason for this person’s release. Judges had discretion to detain.
Bail Reform Blamed for Teenagers' Release
Fact Check: False
The bail statute does not apply post-conviction. This incident is in no way connected to bail reform.
"Brooklyn judge uses forgotten state law to bypass bail reform"
Fact Check: False
The law wasn't "forgotten." The law that the Judge cited is actually a key provision of the new bail reform law.
Nassau Legislators: "New York State’s controversial bail reform is putting public safety at risk"
Fact Check: Fearmongering
Outlier cases are being exploited by GOP officials to undermine bail reform as part of a continuing disinformation campaign.
"Bail Reform Blamed for Man's Lengthy Record"
Fact Check: Fearmongering
Rikers Doctor: "We have to stop blaming bail reform for failures of our social safety net and we must recognize the previous approach failed in much more traumatic ways."
"After Pressure Campaign From Law Enforcement, NY State Politicians Say They Will Change Bail Reforms"
Fact Check: Capitulation
The New York State Senate is hoping to jail its way out of mass incarceration.
"Senator Tedesco Raises Bail Reform Concerns Over Alleged Repeat Offender"
Fact Check: Fearmongering
A robbery that results in any kind of physical injury can be charged as Robbery in the Second Degree, which is a Class C violent felony and bail-eligible offense.
"Mayor Blames Bail Reform for NYPD Statistics"
Fact Check: Misleading
The Mayor's statements are all unsupported by the available numbers.
"Bail Reform Law to Blame for Death of Man Set to Testify in MS-13 Case"
Fact Check: Lies
Police Commissioner acknowledge “no direct link” between criminal justice reform and this case. NBC New York story remains uncorrected.
"NYPD commissioner blames bail law for rise in crime"
Fact Check: Lies
It is irresponsible, dishonest, and opportunistic to claim causation between bail reform and selective short-term fluctuations in crime stats.
"Man released judge after his arraignment, per the new bail reform laws."
Fact Check: Lies
Publicly available information indicates that man was charged with Assault in the Second Degree, which is still eligible for jail.
"Attempted to falsely connect a man’s tragic death to criminal justice reform."
Fact Check: Lies
The tragic death of Mr. Maldonado is, unequivocally, not the result of the new discovery laws.
"Cohoes judge issues order challenging state's bail reform law"
Fact Check: Incomplete
Ordering jail for unpaid tickets would leave people less able to pay their balance upon release.
"Set free to rape: Suspect busted in train station sex assault was freed through state’s new bail reform laws"
Fact Check: False
The man was was never actually charged with rape or any other sex offense.
"Bail reform in spotlight in case of man indicted in Nassau burglaries"
Fact Check: Clarification Needed
Judge: “The spirit of the statute is designed so that people are not warehoused in jail pending a date for trial.”
"Suspects accused of running $7M fentanyl ring released without bail"
Fact Check: Misleading
Anyone who could buy their freedom prior to January 1 would have been free to fight their charges under these same circumstances.
"The feds can’t save New York from the insane ‘no-bail’ law"
Fact Check: Fearmongering
Crime Victim: “I’ve been dismayed to watch politicians exploit what happened, to use it against bail reform.”
"Long Island judge ignores bail law, refuses release of ‘menace to society’"
Fact Check: Fearmongering
A Long Island judge intentionally broke the law to jail a man because “I don’t want you walking around my neighborhood."
"Two arrested after drug bust, one released on bail reform law"
Fact Check: Misleading
The coverage provides no basis for the assertion that Ms. Sheftall would have been incarcerated for non-violent charges prior to January 1.
"Tiffany Harris charged with federal hate crimes in anti-Semitic attacks"
Fact Check: Misleading
The decision to issue and unseal the warrant for her arrest on federal charges is a publicity stunt
"NYPD commissioner Dermot Shea blames bail reform for 2020 crime spike"
Fact Check: Lies
Commissioner Shea’s comments are contradicted by the NYPD’s own data.
"Woman charged with murder previously released without bail according to the state's new bail reform laws"
Fact Check: Lies
A judge could have set bail and jailed the woman according to the new bail laws, but chose not to.
"No sound, rational and fair criminal justice system requires pretrial release of those who demonstrate such determination to continuously commit serious crimes."
Fact Check: Lies
New York bail reform provides judges discretion to set bail in cases where, as here, an individual is rearrested on a felony while released.
"Violent assault in upstate NY brings new bail reform law into question"
Fact Check: Fearmongering
People charged with misdemeanor domestic violence have long been released pre-trial precisely because stakeholders tend to agree that jail does not address the underlying problems.
"Bail ‘reform’ laws lead to release of nine charged with serious crimes in Ulster County"
Fact Check: Misleading
Several of the cases highlighted for this article involve drug possession and only one case out of nine involves physical harm to a person, who overdosed after a drug sale.
"NY bail reform sets free Syracuse Navy vet accused of shooting, killing girlfriend."
Fact Check: Lies
Bail could not have prevented this terrible tragedy. It is illegal to use bail as punishment before a fair trial.