Senate Majority Chief Andrea Stewart-Cousins and different politicians have been citing a deceptive research to defend New York's bail reform legal guidelines.
Hans Pennink/Pool by way of REUTERS
Senate Majority Chief Andrea Stewart-Cousins and different politicians who voted for the disastrous New York bail-reform legal guidelines preserve quoting a “research” that claims solely 2% of defendants launched beneath the brand new legislation get rearrested for a violent felony whereas their case is pending.
That research is technically correct so far as it goes, however the 2% quantity is completely meaningless and a distortion of what’s taking place on the road.
The fact is that even beneath the “outdated” bail legal guidelines, most defendants had been launched on bail or on their very own recognizance, and most of them didn't get rearrested for a felony offense whereas their case was pending. First-time misdemeanor defendants charged with DWIs, minor assaults, shoplifting, turnstile leaping and driving with a suspended license, for instance, had been nearly universally launched with out bail. First-time offenders charged with nonviolent felonies had been additionally nearly at all times launched with out bail.
Actually, in June 2019, earlier than the brand new legal guidelines took impact, we did a research in Queens and located that there have been solely 20 defendants held in metropolis jails on Queens misdemeanor circumstances awaiting trial solely as a result of they may not make bail. They'd a median of 12 prior unsealed arrests, seven prior convictions and three prior bench warrants. Solely 398 defendants had been being held on Queens circumstances solely as a result of they may not make bail. They'd a median of 10 prior unsealed arrests, six prior convictions and two prior bench warrants; 95% of those defendants had been being held on felonies.
The fact is that solely defendants charged with very critical crimes or with prolonged legal information had been being held on bail beneath the outdated bail legal guidelines. A research that appears at each arrest and calculates the share of people that get rearrested doesn’t think about that there are folks on this state who make a profession out of crime.
These are the defendants who would have had bail set beneath the outdated legislation, however for a lot of of them, beneath the brand new legal guidelines, judges merely are prohibited from setting bail in any respect.
In 2019, the state legislature handed the brand new bail legal guidelines (barely amended in 2020) that basically changed bail with “non-monetary launch.” Underneath this program, a decide who discovered that a defendant was a flight threat, or more likely to not seem in courtroom, might launch the defendant on NMR, and place circumstances on his launch — pretrial companies, pretrial supervision, passport give up, keep employment, for instance. These are, basically, the defendants who would have had bail set however at the moment are launched into the brand new NMR.
After we have a look at the numbers from that perspective, they're really alarming. The bail legal guidelines handed by the Legislature have been a catastrophe for New York state and significantly New York Metropolis.
Contemplate: In New York Metropolis between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021, 26,535 folks had been arrested for a felony. 69% of them, 18,239, had a previous conviction or a pending case. 4,062 of those defendants had been launched on non-monetary launch. Of the 4,062 launched on NMR, 1,737, or 43%, had been rearrested whereas their case was pending.
Take into consideration what which means. A defendant who has a previous conviction or a pending case will get arrested for a felony. A decide critiques his report and finds that he's a threat of fleeing. The decide can't set bail and releases the defendant on non-monetary circumstances. Virtually half of them, 43%, get rearrested whereas their case is pending.
That’s the true quantity — not 2%.
The re-arrest charges for defendants with pending circumstances or prior convictions launched on NMR had been 57% for dwelling burglaries, 66% for industrial burglaries, 58% for grand larceny and 68% for petit larceny.
These numbers solely rely rearrests, not legal exercise. New York Metropolis had 85,481 petit larceny complaints in 2021. Petit larceny is an A misdemeanor. There are 198 folks in jail in NYC on any A misdemeanor. No person that I do know is saying that everybody arrested ought to be jailed with out bail and even have bail set. However there are defendants, simply identifiable by their legal information and charged crimes, who pose a risk to the general public and ought to be held in jail pending trial. Forty-nine states and the federal authorities permit it. Why not New York?
Mr. Mayor, stick with your place. You can't decrease crime whereas these bail legal guidelines proceed to drive judges to launch repeat offenders who they know will commit extra crimes. Don’t be fooled by that 2% quantity. It's not actual.
Jim Quinn was government district lawyer within the Queens DA’s workplace, the place he served for 42 years.
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