NY Bail Reform Not Without Controversy [POLL]

A man arrested in the death of a someone to whom authorities said he sold drugs that caused the fatal overdose was freed pending trial by a Manhattan Supreme Court justice. The justice cited a soon-to-be-in-effect bail reform law that will allow more people to stay out of jail by eliminating cash bail for some charges.

Justice Abraham Clott, who is critical of the bail reform legislation that is due to go into effect in 2020, freed Jose Jorge who had been held at Rikers Island without bail on illegal drug sales and conspiracy charges, the Daily News reported.

Clott said that delaying changing bail conditions would cause chaos to the court system if he didn't start releasing defendants whose cases are being put off past the date the law is set to go into effect.

The legislation was part of the 2020 Enacted Budget for the state, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushed to pass, included speedy trial reform, discovery reform and bail reform.

Bail reform will, according to the governor's website, significantly reduce the number of people held in jail prior to trial. "Specifically, cash bail will be eliminated for misdemeanors and non-violent felonies, alongside a new requirement that police officers must issue desk appearance tickets to most people charged with misdemeanors and Class E felonies."

The expected result is that about 90 percent of cases where people are charged but not convicted of a crime will remain out of jail until trial.

Justice Clott is not alone in being concerned about the sweeping criminal justice reform that goes into effect in January.

Onondaga County District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick said, because judges will not be able to consider a defendant's history, the public's safety could be jeopardized, Spectrum Local News reported.

He said his biggest fear is someone being assaulted or killed by a person who is out on bail who should have been held awaiting trial under any "normal, sane set of regulations."

Some of the crimes the state lists as requiring "no bail" include criminally negligent homicide, aggravated assault on a child under 11 and selling drugs on or near school grounds, according to the New York Post.

Neighboring New Jersey got rid of cash bail in 2017, and judges were given the ability to keep someone in custody based on the risk to the public, CBS New York said.

That is not the case in New York, said former prosecutor Lucy Lang.

She told CBS New York that it is too soon to know if bail reform is going to have an effect on public safety.

Now it's your turn to weigh in on the issue. Vote in our unscientific poll and tell us what you think in the comments.