ALBANY – Freshman Assemblywoman Sarahana Shrestha (D, Esopus) has criticized fellow Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul for her bail rollback in the state budget. The lawmaker said the changes are “a continuation of right-wing fear-mongering without substance.”
The lawmaker said there is no need to modify the law.
“Many cases, particularly low-level, get dismissed because of an epidemic of wrongful arrests, and poor people, people of color, and those with mental health issues have a higher likelihood of being caught up in a wrongful arrest,” said Shrestha. “People waiting for their trial, who have not yet been proven guilty and don’t have money to pay bail, are dying in jails due to negligence, and when they do survive, they come out with traumas that are impossible to heal.”
The lawmaker said the bail reform rollback, “and the continued attacks on the 2019 bail reform law by the right, intends to send more innocent people to jail and possible death.”
Shrestha said the current law “already gives judges discretion for bail-eligible cases, which include violent felonies and some non-violent ones.” She said judges “exercise this discretion by determining whether bail is the ‘least restrictive means’ to ensure the person returns to court.”
She said if the law removes the least restrictive language, it means that judges can decide in the two minutes they have at an arraignment, with very little information, that locking people up before their trial is the best way to ensure return to court.”
