It never fails. Just hours after news of the horrific anti-Semitic stabbings in Monsey & pro-carceral forces are already using tragedy and playing on fear to call for greater harshness for all. This is how we got 2.3 million incarcerated. 500k detained pretrial. $180 billion/yr.
The target today: Commonsense, measured bail reform in NY going into effect in 3 days. Requiring release only for non-violent felonies & misdemeanors. A continuation of fairer practices proven to work, save tens of millions in taxpayer money, while crime continues to decline.
“Mass incarceration” was built on the same fear NY police & prosecutors now using. Built on the cynical use of tragic, extreme outlier cases as weapons to justify harsher laws, longer sentences, enhanced pretrial detention, & police militarization. It’s happening right now.
The reason we have such backwards, wasteful, unnecessary, costly, destructive, ineffective criminal justice “policy” is bc of historic reaction & outrage to outlier cases. We follow our gut instead of our brains. To end mass incarceration, we need to breathe & think.
Outlier cases are primary driver of mass criminalization: Police violence, racial disparities, pretrial detention, mandatory minimums, highest incarceration rate in world by far, 47k laws that strip rights from people w/ records. Fear of one ≠ rational policy for all.
The unfortunate truth is tragic things will happen regardless of smart, data-driven changes to bail laws that will enhance fairness, make the public far safer overall & save a fortune for community investments that really matter. We need to give new strategies a chance to succeed
