Criminal rights organizations send Gov. Hochul letter, slam bail reform plan

A group of criminal rights organizations is sending a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul Wednesday regarding their concerns about her plans on bail reform.

The letter, which was sent in advance to PIX11 News, emphasized the unnecessary changes her 10-point public safety plan introduced. Twenty organizations were listed as signatories.

“The proposed amendments to bail, discovery, and Raise the Age are not evidence-based interventions and will not increase community safety,” according to the letter. “Her plan, however, result in an explosion in the incarceration of New Yorkers, particularly poor people and people of color.”

Insha Rahman and Andre Ward of the Vera Institute of Justice and The Fortune Society, respectively, joined PIX11 Morning News to discuss the letter addressed to Hochul. They explained their organizations’ stances regarding her plan.

“What it actually does is it rolls public safety by requiring more incarceration for lesser crimes that could be addressed by services and support from the government,” Rahman said.

“We know that prosecuting children as adults does not keep us safer,” Ward said.

After being asked what the letter hopes to do, Ward calls it “a call to double down on investments.” Both Rahman and Ward said that instead of incarcerating low-level crime offenders, which include minors, implementing services that would benefit communities would be a better way to ensure public safety.

“The best investment right now to keep kids off the streets and guns off the streets is actually to double down on more services, counseling for those kids,” Ward said.

The criminal rights groups are calling for more transparency in discussing the issue with Hochul.

“This is an issue of good public policy and it needs to be addressed in the open and not in the 11th hour of budget negotiations,” Ward said.