Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams was joined today by advocates including Akeem Browder, brother of Kalief Browder, VOCAL-NY, and community groups to take on myths and misinformation about the recently enacted pre-trial reforms. These laws, passed in the 2019 legislative session in Albany, are designed to eliminate the privilege gap between wealthy offenders who can pay bail and lower-income New Yorkers forced to remain incarcerated because of an inability to pay.
The group gathered outside New York County Criminal Court, within sight of the ongoing trial for Harvey Weinstein, who paid $1 million and later $2 million to be released pre-trial.
"This new reform- this critical progress - has been in effect for just six days," said Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams. "Yet we see top officials reacting to headlines and fear mongering, discussing a potential watering down or clawing back of the gains that have been years in the making. In the past, we have seen officials apologize for being on the wrong side of history, for supporting policies that hurt communities in need such as stop, question and frisk, the 1994 crime bill, and the three strikes law. I urge people to wait, to see the good these new laws will accomplish, not only for the benefit of thousands of low income New Yorkers, but so that they are not apologizing for their own opposition to that progress down the road." Public Advocate Williams specifically highlighted that less than 12% of New York City's jail population has been sentenced to jail in 2019, and emphasized that bail is meant not as a punishment but as an assurance that a defendant will return to court - one that poor New Yorkers are unable to pay and so have been far too often punitively incarcerated pre-trial. As of 2018, he noted, 76% of cases already led to release pre-trial, He also made clear that he new bail and discovery laws create more tools for judges and law enforcement to monitor people being released pretrial, and all people facing criminal allegations will now be subject to a range of possible supervision requirements. The Public Advocate announced that his office would be holding a series of informational sessions around the city to engage the public on the impact and implementation of the laws. "I spent eighteen months at Rikers and saw the way money bail devastated the lives of poor people like me. I was proud to fight for bail reform in Albany because wealth should not determine one's freedom. We can't go back to the way things were, we must embrace the new bail reform laws because they make our state more fair and just for all," said Darryl Herring, community leader for VOCAL-NY.
"The presumption of innocence is a principle fundamental to our criminal legal system but for decades, innocent until proven guilty only applied to those who could afford it," said Assemblymember Dan Quart. "New York's new bail laws are a victory decades in the making and we will not allow police unions, prosecutors, and the right-wing media sensationalize and fear monger their way to regressive rollbacks." "Kalief was inevitably sentenced to death for being accused of stealing a backpack - such an insignificant accusation, with a fatal impact. My mother like every parent across New York City never should have to witness and experience a tragedy such as this which caused her death by a broken heart, "said Akeem Browder, brother of Kalief Browder and criminal justice advocate. "Reforming New York's bail came too late to help Kalief, my mother and the countless families that went through similar circumstances- but we fought to have change, attained this reform, and just a week into implementation we are now faced with this action to repeal. This isn't the legacy left due to the sacrifice of Kalief Browder. This is a step towards reviving the system of incarceration." "I have spent the last seven years in the halls and courtrooms of this building right here watching increasing numbers of black and brown and poor New Yorkers behind bars, their families devastated because they simply could not afford bail - because they struggled with poverty, mental health, and substance use issues. Meanwhile the white, the wealthy, and the well connected got to buy their constitutional right to the presumption of innocence," said Tiffany Cabán, public defender and Working Families Party national political organizer, later adding "We need to make sure that we are working together so that none of these reforms, these really important reforms, are rolled back." "These laws are a mere 6 days old and it is shameful that critics continue to spread falsehoods and hysteria to push their anti-reform agenda. This comes as no surprise, as law enforcement and others opposed to reform have employed these baseless tactics for decades to maintain their competitive courtroom advantage, strip our clients of their rights, and keep black and brown New Yorkers in cages at Rikers Island. Albany rightfully overhauled these broken laws and lawmakers must only build on this success by enacting more reforms this upcoming session," said Marie Ndiaye, Supervising Attorney of the Decarceration Project at The Legal Aid Society. "When people say that our Hasidic and Orthodox brothers and sisters are under attack, that is not a metaphor to me, that is literal," said Abby Stein of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice. She went on to say "I am here to tell you that bail reforms isn't just not getting in our way, it's the only thing we can do right now to make sure that the nonstop incarceration of our siblings of color does not get in the way, and does not make anti-Semitism even worse." "We stand here today and instead of celebrating together, we are talking about the efforts of a few New Yorkers with a vested interest in the status quo to roll back what we have accomplished together," said Justine Olderman, Executive Director of The Bronx Defenders. "They are trying to add new charges, more charges, to our two-tiered justice system, where people who are wealthy can pay their way out and people who are low-income New Yorkers will languish in jail... We should not be here looking backwards and finding ways to go back to an unjust system. We should be standing here celebrating that our criminal legal system is no longer able to crush the poor and that since January 1, people accused of low-level offenses are no longer separated from their family, jobs, and community." The Public Advocate said his office would continue to monitor the reforms for their effectiveness and impact.