NYCLU Statement on Bail Rollbacks Going Into Effect

NEW YORK – Today, revisions to New York’s historic 2019 bail reform law will go into effect. As a result, over a dozen new charges will result in jail time for people who are unable to pay bail while continuing to allow release for those who are able to pay for it. In response, the New York Civil Liberties Union issued the following statement from Executive Director, Donna Lieberman:

“Today New York officially expands the list of charges that allow a person to be incarcerated before trial, which will increase jail populations and funnel greater numbers of Black and Brown people into the criminal system. We’ve seen plainly how broken windows policing and law enforcement impunity breed police violence targeting communities of color.
 
“Lawmakers in the last several months have repeated that Black Lives Matter as advocates have sounded the alarm about jails and prisons being hotbeds for coronavirus transmission. Yet this law will still put thousands more people behind bars in the middle of a health crisis simply because they cannot afford bail. 
 
“We’ve come so far in the fight to challenge racist policing and end mass incarceration. This bail rollback is a step backward, and a reminder of far we have to go. We won’t stop fighting to end money bail and change this law.”