Those convicted of a crime prosecuted by the Manhattan District Attorney can apply to have their closed case reviewed by the new Post-Conviction Justice Unit (PCJU), what reform-minded DA Alvin Bragg called a “significant priority” for his office. “If you’ve committed the wrong person, there’s someone else out there who’s still doing harm.”
‘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.’
“While Cuomo’s plan acknowledges the social equity imperative of legalization, it allocates only $100 million in tax grants to communities most harmed. That’s a step – but it’s not enough.”
‘The Village Act takes an outside-of-the-box approach, where healing the relationship between the public and law enforcement is at the root.’
‘Under the new amendments to the law, Kalief Browder would have been eligible for bail, the prosecutor would have again asked for bail, and bail would have been set. Under the law that just passed, Kalief’s story ends no differently.’
DAs and conservative pols are denouncing criminal justice reforms that, after years of advocacy, were finally adopted in Albany last spring. Bail reform and discovery reform are the focus of the ire.
A priest and a rabbi write, ‘Our traditions teach that when a person is held captive and the value of their freedom is assigned a price tag that they cannot afford,’ the basic teachings of both their faiths are violated.
The sponsor of an Assembly measure that would sharply constrain the use of financial bail says she is optimistic her proposal will become law now that Democrats control the State Senate.
‘Our recommended changes will aim to advance meaningful and substantive remedies that no mainstream politician will currently support. Not because they don’t make sense but because they are too politically charged.’