Thread by @nychange

Here's @NBCnewyork misinforming its audience on #bailreform with a claim that Mayor Adams wants judges to have discretion to hold “gun criminals” in jail. It's false and misleading on many levels – and a distraction from what's really needed to improve community safety. 🧵/1

Putting aside the dehumanizing and inaccurate “gun criminal” label, NBC is attempting to cover the fight over bail reform, which impacts people who are presumed innocent and convicted of nothing. /2

In fact, gun charges, including possession, are “bail-eligible”, meaning judges can set bail or remand someone to jail without a trial under current law. /3

Moreover, even in other cases where the charge itself isn’t “bail-eligible,” judges can consider a person's history and set bail, e.g. for anyone on parole or probation and anyone who's a “predicate felon” – another dehumanizing term. /4

Judges can also set bail in cases involving a felony re-arrest or even a misdemeanor re-arrest involving alleged "harm to property", which judges have interpreted very loosely, even including alleged thefts from stores. /5

When Mayor Adams says he wants "judicial discretion," what he really wants is to jail more people. He's even said he'll replace judges who don't follow his agenda. /6 nypost.com/2021/11/24/eri…

All that said, most cases do not withstand basic scrutiny and are dismissed (65% for felonies) and very few result in any jail or prison sentence (14% for felonies). /7 criminaljustice.ny.gov/crimnet/ojsa/d…

So we're talking about whether people should be subjected to the abuses* of Rikers Island without a trial when, in all likelihood, the court itself will likely determine that incarceration isn't the right response after evaluating the evidence. /8

*Abuses include rampant staff brutality, medical neglect and disruption of medical treatment, deprivation of mental health services, malnourishment, sewage leaks, extreme weather, and more, all of which sadly often result in death. /9

Watching TV news, you'd think New York abolished jails. We should, and you should follow the many scholars and activists leading the way, like @prisonculture, @dreanyc123 & @dereckapurnell, if you’re not already doing so. That’s not what happened here. /10

Anyone actually convicted of a gun crime, including possession, faces a MANDATORY MINIMUM sentence. /11

So, not only do judges have discretion to jail people convicted of gun possession, they *lack* the discretion not to. This is significant because surveys show young people who carry guns most often do so not with the intent to harm anyone but b/c police don’t keep them safe. /12

Punishment doesn’t allay fear and doubling down on the current system of policing and incarceration won’t keep anyone safe. Please see this report by the non-partisan @courtinnovation:
courtinnovation.org/publications/g… /13

Also, many gun cases arise when a person is found, often through a racist & illegal search, to have been in a car with someone who had a gun, or in an apartment, etc. In a country debating the right to bear arms, Black people can be locked up for being in the vicinity of one. /14

The safest communities are the ones with the most resources, not the highest jail populations. Decades of disinvestment & mass policing in Black & brown communities have turned people into a cash crop for upstate prison economies–and a talking point for political candidates. /15

Groups like @NYAGV1 are clear that rolling back bail reform won’t stop gun violence.

https://twitter.com/NYAGV1/status/1487153150540890120?s=20&t=Y1aWGldfVUCS0oty8aXCPw

/16

Immediate and long-term investments in housing, public health, community-based violence interruption programs and other social services will deliver the safety and fairness we all deserve. Blaming bail reform is a distraction. Period. /end