A flowchart showing the number of arraignments in Ithaca City Court, and the outcomes for cases of people who did not have bail set before their trial. There were 24 non-violent felonies, but just nine violent felonies, the type of which is shown below. Of those cases, 419 did not have another arrest (and 130 of the records are blank), while 64 received misdemeanors while they were out. But I don’t think any of the violent crime that has happened recently is attributable in any way to bail reform.”ĭata culled from the state’s Office of Court Administration website shows that of 652 arraignments held in Ithaca City Court since the reforms took place in 2020, 646 of them did not have bail set. Sometimes it’s predictable, sometimes it isn’t. “Violent crime is always cyclical, it happens for many reasons. “I don’t believe that there’s a connection between any violent crime and the bail reform laws,” Van Houten said. He also noted that he would have liked District Attorneys around the state to be more involved in the initial formulation of the reforms. He supported them when they were first introduced, though he noted that the reforms would potentially make prosecutions more difficult because of the changes to evidence-gathering timetables-part of the larger discovery reforms that brought New York more in line with the rest of the country after previously having some fairly slanted rules for discovery, in the minds of defense attorneys at least. In Tompkins County, District Attorney Matt Van Houten has generally been a supporter of the reforms. His objections have been bolstered by a few headline-grabbing tragedies perpetrated by people who could have still been detained under previous bail laws. Kathy Hochul and her administration have been mulling changes to the law regardless, fueled in part by the election of NYC Mayor Eric Adams, who has been a vocal opponent of the reforms. Its main thrust was to reduce the number of people who would remain behind bars because they couldn’t afford to pay bail and get themselves out by making many non-violent felonies and misdemeanors ineligible for bail. Vote for Danks Burke on (or before!) August 23rd.TOMPKINS COUNTY, N.Y.-New York State’s bail reform laws were certainly controversial when they were approved in 2019 and implemented in 2020, with criminal justice advocates celebrating their implementation as a win for civil rights for those accused but not yet convicted of crimes. She has earned the vote of this resident who actually must live with the consequences of her vote. Leslie Danks Burke has always been a straight talker and a champion for all of us who live and work in Tompkins, Cortland and now Broome County. What is she hiding? Does she fear her views are too far out of the district mainstream? Most recently she refused to comment in another publication’s article on bail reform. We know how she stands on bail reform, the flow of illegal and ghost guns into our communities, violence in our cities and towns, the relentless rise in the cost of living and the threat to our democracy posed by recent Supreme Court decisions. Webb rarely, if ever, publicly comments on these issues. Unlike Webb, Leslie has published numerous op-eds and answered hard questions she puts all her questionnaires on her website. More important, she always lets us know what she believes. She has listened attentively at zoom meetings with local seniors, neighborhood gatherings and while canvassing door to door. Leslie has spent her time on the trail talking to local voters and concentrating on issues that matter to us. Her latest fundraising filing reported that she almost doubled Webb’s haul, with Leslie receiving 90 percent of her contributions from residents of our region. Tompkins County’s Leslie Danks Burke’s campaign is built on in-district support. However, Lea Webb’s endorsers lean heavily toward out-of-district people and big money donors from New York City, California and DC. It is doubtful many of these out-of-district supporters could find their way to the Dryden Hotel or any of our local farm stands. The Democratic primary is less than a month away and Democrats Leslieĭanks Burke and Lea Webb have a fair share of endorsements for State Senate.
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