News

Yesterday, we learned that Governor Hochul’s office is considering a reactive plan to rollback hard-won public safety measures. As we work with our colleagues and with legislators to stop this ill-conceived plan, we want to be clear: the last-minute effort to trash years of thoughtful efforts to reform an unfair, wealth-based, racist pretrial release system and install a system of preventive detention that – in the absence of any credible data suggesting that judges and prosecutors can predict future “dangerousness” with any accuracy and without bias – is a Hail Mary pass with a crystal ball. To tie this data-free “plan” to the state budget is breathing life into the ghosts of governors past, just when we thought we were entering a new era. Pray that our legislative leaders respect the hard work that went into hammering out the reforms that are successfully being implemented, despite the dogs whistling Dixie.

You can act, right now, to protect bail reform and advance community safety by contacting your legislator to tell them we need them to follow the facts, not fear.