New York- Bail Reform Rollbacks Go Into Effect; Do They Go Far Enough?

The hotly contested changes to the state’s bail reform laws went into effect on Thursday. 

These changes, however, did not go far enough for many Republican lawmakers who have been calling for a full repeal to this law. 

Assemblyman Joe Giglio says he was never against making reforms, but believes many crucial points were never fixed. 

“Criminal justice is just like everything else, it needs to evolve,” Assemblyman Giglio explained. “The first part of that is we’re not as the Republican conference against bail reform. We never said that. We just said, ‘let’s do this right.’ ”

Republicans in both the Senate and Assembly held hearings around the state on ways to improve the current bail reform law. Assemblyman Giglio says what he heard the most from law enforcement was the need to restore judicial discretion. 

“Our communities have the right to be safe, and all we were saying was, ‘let’s do this the right way,’ ” Giglio said. “No one wants lower level criminals in jail because they cost too much anyways. You’re not a menace to society. But these went way too far. They made drug offenses practically legal.”

Lawmakers on both sides are also upset this was once again something voted on in the budget and not a stand-alone bill.

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