The price of bail reform is paid at the expense of crime victims

New York State's criminal justice initiatives may help the accused and convicted but leave communities vulnerable and less safe

Critics and advocates agree that New York State tried to smooth the rough road of criminal justice by paving it with good intentions. Unfortunately, due to some legislators’ misplaced eagerness to save criminals, reforms ran roughshod over everyone else.

The effort to establish a “more just” system for people accused of crimes as well as those convicted has proven more unmapped highway to hell than effective path to real justice.

The biggest patch – bail reform – turned into the deepest pothole. People hurt most by the ill-conceived and rushed legislation are crime victims, particularly in poor, marginalized, and underserved communities.

We were told bail reform was a panacea for system unfairness; instead, it backfired into both punchline and punching bag of who-has-the-power politics in Albany. It was undoubtedly needed and targeted disparities in the court system, some of which were corrected. The measure laid bare weaknesses, inequities, and outright unfairness but resulted in unintended, dangerous consequences for communities.

It's an irony of consequences – none for criminals, plenty for crime victims. Seeing offenders released back onto the streets with just appearance tickets so they can re-offend and never show up for court sparks outrage and frustration. 2024 promises to be the year the scourge of drug addiction-fueled crime really takes hold because good intentions in Albany created a toxic cocktail of reforms.

While bail reform’s failures overshadow its positives, it’s also convenient camouflage for less prominent but collectively more damaging criminal justice initiatives stirred into the mix by the power base in Albany: Raise the Age, Less is More, Discovery, the HALT Act, marijuana, and Clean Slate legislation. On tap in 2024 … elder parole and sentencing reforms.

New York’s Sheriffs and police chiefs predicted the negative impacts in 2018 when these reforms passed. They were ignored by legislators and attacked by anti-law enforcement crusaders, and continue to be today. Instead, bail reform activists cite simplistic data they think proves the initiative works. They and their lawmaker allies deny the realities of dangerous, life-altering, and often deadly evidence. Their pushbacks and denials insult law enforcement professionals and the public by mislabeling the very evidence that convicts criminals as “anecdotal.”

Their insults take form in another predictable parade of anti-police bills in 2024 and fuel a statewide anti-crime victim environment that has criminals laughing at police, prosecutors, and judges IF they show up for court at all.

Legislators return to their home offices in the second half of each year to “listen” to constituents’ concerns. It’s a time to exaggerate their involvement in legislation, attend ribbon cuttings, pitch non-controversial bills, and hold events to make us think they’re listening to the little people.

Pushing the off-season message of “Look what I did for you” with feel-good legislation that would have happened anyway takes little courage. Our lawmakers don’t take a stand out of fear they might be perceived in Albany as not falling in line with party politics and populist rhetoric. With one-party control, they don’t have to.

While they’re playacting, the rest of us, particularly those victimized by crime who can least afford it, pay for damaged businesses , record retail losses , an out-of-control drug epidemic, gun violence, more crime, and disrupted lives. In Rochester and Monroe County over the past six months, if the local delegation to Albany were listening, they would have heard Sheriff Todd Baxter and other community leaders ask that they do something – even have a conversation about bail reform after five years of difficulties.

Only one state representative acknowledged public safety was an issue – Senator Jeremy Cooney – with his proposed “Car Theft Prevention Act,” which would make possession of stolen property bail eligible. The Sheriff said he would be grateful for any step in the right direction. The proposal is unlikely to pass.? That the bulk of the members of the Monroe County delegation of state lawmakers remain in silent disregard of Monroe County’s top cop speaks volumes.? It’s indicative of the kind of disingenuous play-it-safe representation they espouse. If our lawmakers continue to ignore the Sheriff’s request to engage on the state’s most urgent issue, what does it say about their view of the public?

Turns out that’s pretty clear as well. Last week, a diverse group of Monroe County leaders from business, the clergy, government, law enforcement, the legal and medical fields, community advocacy, and many others, including crime victims, sent a letter to state lawmakers requesting their assistance. This was the second time the Consortium for Safe Communities (CSC) took a stand on bail reform – last March, it penned a letter supporting Governor Kathy Hochul’s elimination of the “least restrictive means” standard.

This time, the CSC urged Albany to add a dangerousness standard, a repeat offender standard, and write a “clean law” so the revised bail reform is easily understood by everyone. The group also asked lawmakers to oppose the pending elder parole bill, which, sadly, is co-sponsored by Senators Cooney and Samra Brouk .

It’s one thing to be anti-law enforcement; it’s a whole other matter to punish crime victims and their families. That’s arrogant disregard.

Sheriff Baxter and the CSC have sought engagement with Monroe County’s state delegation for over a year with little success. Their efforts received more active interest, cooperation, and conversation from the Governor’s office.

When a Governor is more responsive than your own representatives (all of whom are up for re-election), it makes you think.

Wouldn’t it be great if 2024 were a year of consequences?

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The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not in any way represent the Monroe County Sheriff's Office or the Consortium for Safe Communities.

*Dr. Gestring is a leading trauma surgeon at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

*Cheryl Robinson represents the Beechwood Neighborhood Coalition 14609, Rochester, NY