Governor Hochul is proposing changes to New York’s controversial bail reform law. Both the New York Post and the New York Times report that Hochul is getting ready to announce a ten-point plan to partly reverse the changes which drastically scaled down the offenses for which people can be held on bail.
It would give judges more discretion to set bail, allow them to consider a person’s criminal history in setting bail and require bail in a variety of gun crimes. Republicans, victims’ advocacy groups and law enforcement have been condemning the bail law since it was enacted in 2019, saying it allows repeat offenders to simply be released on an appearance ticket to commit new crimes.
The reform law’s intent was to prevent low-income suspects from being jailed for long periods because they couldn’t afford bail while wealthier suspects could go free on the same charge.
The Hochul proposal seems unlikely to pass the state legislature, where both the Senate leader and the Assembly leader are Democrats who oppose making changes to bail reform