Here's one thing about the Mayor’s attempt to kill NY bail reform one day after it started by calling for judges to be allowed to try to predict future "dangerousness."
Kalief Browder, symbol of need for change, would've been deemed dangerous. And jail still wouldve killed him.
Kalief Browder, symbol of need for change, would've been deemed dangerous. And jail still wouldve killed him.
Ending cash bail does not require the creation of another mechanism to incarcerate people pretrial. Especially one that depends on ability to predict future dangerousness based on skewed data likely just to replicate currently existing racial disparities. There is no crystal ball
We can’t predict the future. But we can and do detain people unnecessarily. Armed w/ even more power to do so, judges will do so. The state legislature closely considered whether to allow judges to consider dangerousness. They explicitly rejected it.
"Changing the law to require judges to make supposed predictions of future dangerousness, a position already rejected by Albany lawmakers as likely to exacerbate racism in our criminal legal system, would not improve safety or combat hate in our society."pix11.com/news/local-new…
The fact that the Mayor has joined pro-carceral forces around the state--police & prosecutors--to call for a complete overhaul to commonsense, long-considered bail reform before a single day went by should set off alarm bells: This is fearmongering. This is not reasoned judgment.
Gut reaction criminal justice policy, driven by outlier cases & political expediency is how we got mass incarceration. We're watching attempts to grow & perpetuate it happen in real time. Right now. We need to take a breath & let these reforms work. Have patience for change.
Kalief Browder sat on Rikers pretrial for 3.5 years on $3500 bail for a crime he didn't commit. If even he wouldn't benefit from a proposed bail law, that proposed bail law should be rejected swiftly and immediately.
