SUDDENLY IT OCCURS TO DE BLASIO THAT BAIL REFORM HAS LED TO A SPIKE IN CRIME

De Blasio finally admits NYC crime jump is linked to bail reform

By Sam Raskin and Gabrielle Fonrouge

New York Post
February 7, 2020

Guess he couldn’t find anything else to pin it on.

Mayor Bill de Blasio linked a recent crime surge in the Big Apple to the state’s controversial overhaul of bail laws Friday, after spending a week dancing around the matter.

“We had, for six years, steady decreases in crime across the board. There’s not a whole lot of other environmental things that have changed recently,” Hizzoner told WNYC’s Brian Lehrer on new CompStat data that shows crime has soared since the new laws took effect at the start of 2020. “It sort of stands out like a sore thumb that this is the single biggest new thing in the equation and we saw an extraordinary jump.”

“Of course there’s always a possibility this is plain statistical variation, that happens sometimes,” he added. “But I think it’s pretty clear that there’s only one new major piece in the equation.”

The controversial law bars judges from setting bail to hold criminal defendants for most misdemeanors and non-violent felonies cases. It’s come under intense criticism from law enforcement officials and prosecutors.

De Blasio again reiterated his support for giving the judges the power to lock up defendants they believe are a danger to the public while awaiting trial — a position that’s left him at odds with the bail overhaul’s top backer, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-The Bronx).

“I think judicial discretion should be clarified so that there are very clear checks and balances, so that we avoid any inkling of bias entering into the process, but I think a system predicated only on the question of flight risk misses the fact that there are some individuals who are just consistently, by their own actions, and by the proof of due process, consistently creat[ing] a threat to their neighbors,” de Blasio said on the show.

It’s a change in tune for City Hall from just Tuesday when de Blasio repeatedly dodged questions about the link between bail laws and a surge in crime stats that show auto thefts, robberies, burglaries, grand larcenies and felony assaults have all shot up since the start of 2020.

“We saw things emanating from this law starting [to] take effect months ago and obviously now it’s in full effect. But the bottom line is, one, we’ve been 100 percent clear and we are unified on what we feel. Two, we want to act on this productively,” de Blasio circularly answered. “We’re in dialogue with leaders in Albany about those concerns, and we want to move forward. In the meantime, this police force can handle anything thrown at them.”

Shea also dodged questions Tuesday but pointed to “on the record” remarks he made two weeks prior where he conclusively pointed at bail reform as the culprit behind the crime uptick.

“Either we forgot how to police New York City, or there’s a correlation,” with the new laws, he said Jan. 24.