Albany, NY—In response to State Senate Republicans’ introduction of bills intended to undermine historic pretrial reforms passed this year in Albany, Stanley Fritz, Political Director of Citizen Action of New York, has issued the following statement:
“Senate Republicans, just like their racist President, have no valid argument against New York’s new pre-trial reforms. So instead, they’re using fear, misinformation and racist rhetoric to undermine laws that will keep legally innocent people out of jail while they wait for their day in court.
“New York’s jails are currently filled with thousands of people who are only there because they can’t afford their bail. Any system that penalizes regular people because of their inability to pay needs to be overhauled. Senate Republicans are grasping at straws to uphold that broken system. Thankfully, that’s going to change on January 1 and it’s going to make New York safer by keeping families together, letting folks continue working and keeping people in stable housing – out of the violent, inhumane jail system.
“The new bail and discovery laws were carefully crafted over the course of years with input from impacted people, lawmakers, community members, policy experts, law enforcement and advocates to ensure that they reduce incarceration, create transparency and fairness in the system, and advance safety for our communities.”
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