Buffalo News Editorial Board: Scapegoating bail reform for political gain ignores the facts

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Laura Pitter
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From the @TheBuffaloNews editorial board:

"The cynical use of bail reform as a scapegoat for violent crime only puts us farther away from data-driven policies that may actually make New York safer."

buffalonews.com
The Editorial Board: Scapegoating bail reform for political gain ignores the facts
Those attacking the bail reform laws are correct in deploring violent crime, but any efforts toward decreasing such crime and its root causes must be evidence-based or they won’t make
8:09 PM · Jul 26, 2022

https://buffalonews.com/opinion/editorial/the-editorial-board-scapegoating-bail-reform-for-political-gain-ignores-the-facts/article_1cfee270-0c4b-11ed-90a1-5bc3f73d78aa.html

Opportunism is everything in politics. Too bad it’s not always accompanied by fact-based arguments.

The knee-jerk claims by many that New York state’s bail reform laws drive increases in violent crime are good examples of this. After the reforms, which prohibit cash bail for most nonviolent crimes, became law in 2019, claims quickly arose that they forced judges to release dangerous offenders.

However, not just one, but several subsequent studies – by the Albany Times-Union, the New York City Crim­inal Justice Agency and The Buffalo News, among others – indicate that there is no evidence that bail reform is linked to such increases.

As we know, however, politicians don’t always let facts get in their way. Last Thursday’s attack on Rep. Lee Zeldin, Republican challenger to Gov. Kathy Hochul in November’s election, provided a high-profile opportunity to renew demands for stricter bail laws. Thankfully, Zeldin and his aides stopped an assailant – who leaped onstage as the congressman was speaking – from doing any harm, but the repercussions in terms of a heightened assault on bail reform legislation won’t be quelled as easily.

Zeldin has made tightening bail laws one of his central campaign issues and, on Saturday, Senate Minority Leader Robert G. Ortt, R-North Tonawanda, joined him in calling for rollbacks. Ort also demanded a special legislative session on bail law and gun violence.

*snip*