A conversation on bail reform: Who's impacted and what's really going on
NEW YORK -- The debate over New York's bail reform law is heating up, as Gov. Kathy Hochul negotiates with lawmakers to make changes.
Critics say reforms are causing a rise in violent crime, but is that really the case?
Today on CBS News New York, CBS2's Aundrea Cline-Thomas talks to stakeholders to take a closer look at who's impacted and break down what's really going on.
"There's a small percentage that's causing the violence and the harm in our community. They're taking advantage of the bail reform," Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark told Cline-Thomas.
Bail reform has become a lightning rod and political football. The legislation passed in 2019 was meant to address the mass incarceration of low-income Black and brown New Yorkers not convicted of a crime, only put behind bars because they could not pay for their freedom.
"The worst and hardest blow of everything was to plead guilty to something I didn't do just to stop that suffering," said Marvin Mayfield, who spent years on Rikers Island and is now a criminal justice advocate.
"Bail is not meant to be punishment," said Marie Ndiaye, attorney with the Legal Aid Society. "It is to ensure that people who are arrested return to court."
But as violent crime continues to increase, politicians are blaming the law, intensifying pressure for lawmakers to make changes. Now, Hochul is on board.
But the data tells a different story.
"Are they re-offending in a different percentage than before the bail reform laws were put in place?" Cline-Thomas asked researcher Michael Rempel, with John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
"There's no indication of that whatsoever," Rempel replied.
Original bail sponsor Assemblywoman Latrice Walker is on a hunger strike, protesting to keep the law in tact.
"If I have money to post bail, whether or not I carry one gun or 20 guns, if as long as I paid bail, I would still be released the next day," she said. "This is an assault on the poor."
Still, even those who believe reforms were necessary, say there were unintended consequences.
"Not all guns and gun possession can a judge set bail on, and that's one of the things that can be tweaked," Judge Jeffrey Cohen said.
"Cash bail, if it were up to me, I'd eliminate it altogether," former NYPD Commissioner Ben Tucker added.
Join us as we separate rhetoric from reality.
"Why is Albany playing Russian roulette with people's lives?" said victims' rights advocate Jennifer Harrison.
CBS News New York presents A Conversation on Bail Reform today at 9 a.m. and then again at 6:30 p.m.