Despite documented and totally foreseen failures in New York’s bail reform law – including the death of an innocent person due to the actions of one of the released criminals – Democrat politicians in the state don’t appear ready to make changes that would fix the law.
The New York Post reported that “Department of Correction statistics show there were a total of 5,569 people in city jails on Thursday, a 19% drop from the 6,877 counted on Nov. 21.”
The drop comes after city judges started releasing defendants without bail ahead of the bail reform law taking effect on January 1.
As The Daily Wire has previously documented, numerous defendants who were released without bail went on to commit crimes similar to the ones they were arrested for in the first place. In one case, a man with a criminal history and numerous drunk driving offenses was released under the new bail reform law and went on to cause a crash that resulted in the death of a 27-year-old. The man responsible for the crash was charged with a DWI.
The Post also reported examples of defendants released only to commit the same crimes that got them arrested, including an accused bank robber and a woman accused of an anti-Semitic attack.
As the Post reported, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) failed to mention any of the issues with the bill during his annual State of the State Address, nor did he tout the bill. Cuomo has in the past suggested he would support changes to the law but has offered no specifics.
Democrats in the state legislature also appear to be stalling on any changes.
“Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) has said he’s ‘ready to let the law continue the way it is’ and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) said, ‘I want to be able to sort out the fact from fearmongering,’” the Post reported.
Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay criticized Democrats for failing to act.
“New York liberals’ pro-criminal platform now allows people to sucker-punch a police officer, rob five banks or kill someone with a car and just walk away with an appearance ticket,” Barclay said. “It’s no wonder jail populations are going down.”
Last week, Eusebio Jax-Mejia, 21, was released after being arrested for stealing a vehicle. Within hours of his release, he stole another vehicle – from outside the Delaware County Public Safety building.
Earlier in January, a man who had been charged with second-degree manslaughter in connection with the murder of a 29-year-old woman from Albany was released due to the bail reform law. The man allegedly admitted to causing the woman’s death, but that is apparently no longer enough to keep him in jail under the new law.
The Post also reported on “Brick Man,” who got the name because he would use a brick to smash the windows of businesses he would then burglarize. He had been arrested three times in connection with burglaries but was released thanks to Cuomo’s bail reform law. After his release, he allegedly committed two more smash-and-grabs.