This week, NY Gov. Kathy Hochul revealed the state budget would not meet the April 1 deadline, highlighting the bail law as a major hurdle toward completion. Hochul has spoken toward adjustments to the “least restrictive means” of bail, which rank-and-file assembly democrats strongly oppose.
The bail law was enacted in 2019 and is now facing repealing. On Thursday, criminal justice advocates and activists, and supporting lawmakers combined to show their force and why the 2019 bail law must remain in tact.
The show of unity comes along with the power of the memory of Marvin Mayfield, the late criminal justice advocate, who operates in support of those who have long been marginalized.
After a report about the position to hamper bail laws, Assembly Member Latrice Walker released a statement to City & State NY, staying aligned with its stance to combat any return to prior laws. “I feel the need to clarify that the Assembly Majority opposes any changes to weaken or upend the bail laws and subject more New Yorkers to the dangers of pretrial detention,” she wrote.
Gov. Hochul is still steadfast in rolling back reform, hanging the budget in the balance as a leverage point. “The governor drives the budget process and she’s using that leverage to negotiate her priorities – especially criminal justice and housing – before anything else,” Jack O’Donnell, Democratic political strategist and managing partner of O’Donnell & Associates, said.
The issue doesn’t solely rely on the hindrances that rollback cause to processes. Still, it ultimately would turn bail into a system that can do more than just order citizens back to court, and that point directly correlates to the burden of Black, brown, and poor communities.
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