As New York celebrates the start of 2020, a host of new laws are taking effect at midnight — including one releasing scores of potentially dangerous suspects from jail and back onto city streets.
New York’s bail reform law eliminates pretrial detention and cash bail for the vast majority of misdemeanor and non-violent felony cases. Hundreds of offenses such as stalking, grand larceny, assault as a hate crime, and second degree manslaughter will no longer be eligible for bail or pretrial detention.
“They eliminated bail but they never put in the safeguard we need of allowing a judge to assess dangerousness and the result is we’ve got some glaring loopholes that will go into effect,” Mark Peters warned.
CBS2’s Urban Affairs Expert says this sets New York apart from other states, such as New Jersey, which have also eliminated cash bail.
“So someone can walk up to someone on the street punch them in the face and if they haven’t done lasting physical injury there’s no bail available… they’ll be let out that day they can go punch someone the next day,” Peters added.
Hellbound and Down 