New York leaders tout criminal justice reforms | New York

(The Center Square) — New York’s Democratic leaders are touting criminal justice reforms in the newly signed state budget, saying the changes will help deal with rising crime levels.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams gathered in Manhattan on Wednesday to highlight a $229 billion spending plan provision that gives New York state judges more discretion to keep dangerous suspects locked up ahead of trial.

Hochul said the reforms strike a balance between protecting the rights of individuals and protecting public safety amid heightened concerns about crime in the state. 

“No one should be sitting in Rikers accused, without a trial, for a minor offence, because they didn’t have the money,” she said in remarks Wednesday. “But I believe the judges should have the authority to set bail and detain dangerous defendants. Full stop.”

Adams touted a provision in the budget that will empower state tax regulators to crack down on illegal cannabis shops, which have proliferated in NYC amid a slow rollout of the state’s recreational pot law.

“This has become a problem throughout the entire state, if not the entire country, and it’s more than just selling illegal cannabis,” Adams said Wednesday. “It is driving robberies at commercial establishments, it’s driving some of the shootings, and it’s a cash only business, so it’s creating its own industry of violence.”

Adams said he also supports the changes to the state’s bail laws, saying there are a “small number of New Yorkers who are extremely violent, and there was a lack of clarity on how the judges can use their powers to ensure that they do not repeatedly harm innocent people in this city.”

New York eliminated bail for most nonviolent felony charges in 2020 as part of overhauling the criminal justice system. A series of high-profile murders and shootings across the state prompted Hochul and others to call for tightening pre-detention bail laws.

Hochul argues that while murders and shootings have declined in New York, the state’s overall crime rate is “headed in the wrong direction,” and state judges are hamstrung from keeping dangerous criminals locked up ahead of trial. 

She has noted that the state’s crime index — including burglary, robbery, rape and assaults — was up 21% in 2022 compared to a year earlier.

But Hochul’s plan was met with resistance from progressive Democrats in the state Legislature, who argued stricter bail laws would roll back years of criminal justice reforms.

Democrats pulled her plan from their versions of the state budget, but Hochul was able to get part of the proposal back into play during negotiations with legislative leaders. Hochul signed the $229 billion budget on Wednesday, more than a month after the state’s deadline to approve the spending package.

Hochul and Adams touted other provisions of the budget expanding programs targeting gun violence, reducing recidivism, addressing the flow of fentanyl, and improving the reliability of the court system.

“Our goal was to make justice faster and fairer, that is what this budget is accomplishing,” Adams said. “We’re not spiking the ball but we know we are moving towards the goal line and we will be successful in making and continuing to have the city and state to be the safest state in America.”