“By seeking credible data and nurturing a values-based conversation that better elevates justice, state leaders can both serve public safety interests and avoid an unjust burden on individuals and communities.”
“As mayor, Adams now wields more power and influence than ever before, and for this reason, his pro-respectability mindset is a serious cause for concern.”
“Our elected officials are threatening hard-fought reforms designed to counteract the historic – and present – racism in law enforcement that targets my neighbors and eventually will target my son. Meanwhile, they fail to invest in our communities.”
‘The likely consequences of Hochul’s plan—job loss, family separation, lack of medical and mental health care and drug treatment, and more school absences—would destabilize families and communities and, ultimately, exacerbate the problems she aims to address.’
‘Of the 33 cases we at PROP have seen this year, none entailing a serious charge, 30 involved New Yorkers of color—unsurprising since 90 percent of the more than 7,000 cases we have observed since beginning the Court Monitoring Project in 2014 also involved New Yorkers of color.’
The new “Communities Not Cages” coalition is pushing for passage of three new bills that would eliminate mandatory minimum prison sentences in the state and offer incarcerated New Yorkers more opportunities to have their sentences revisited and shortened.
‘Jail separates people from work and family, jeopardizes stable housing, and subjects them to violence, especially in inhumane environments like Rikers. Incarceration must be the option of last resort, used only when it is essential for public safety.’
‘It is brutal to remove people from their families and subject them to the cruel punishment of incarceration while they are supposedly ‘presumed innocent.’ ‘
‘Major importers and distributors of heroin and fentanyl, charged with top narcotics sale or possession crimes, will walk out of court with no bail even if they have significant ties to foreign jurisdictions.’
Reforms to the bail system, evidence-sharing rules and speedy-trial requirements are at the top of the reform agenda—and will shape the city’s ‘close Rikers’ efforts as well.
City Limits uses investigative journalism through the prism of New York City to identify urban problems, examine their causes, explore solutions, and equip communities to take action.
Founded in 1976 in the midst of New York’s fiscal crisis, City Limits exists to inform democracy and equip citizens to create a more just city. The organization is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit funded by foundation support, ad sponsorship and donations from readers.
Support local, investigative journalism that has informed and empowered New Yorkers for 45 years.
Support local, investigative journalism that has informed and empowered New Yorkers for 45 years.
