New York’s Bail Reform Policies Are Setting Anti-Semitic Attackers Free to Attack Again

New York’s Bail Reform Policies Are Setting Anti-Semitic Attackers Free to Attack Again

In the aftermath of the horrific machete attacks at a Monsey, New York synagogue that left five Jewish people injured Saturday night, Democrats are predictably pointing fingers at President Trump, who they blame for the stabbings.

Prominent New York Democrats in particular have done much of the finger pointing, as NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio demonstrated during an interview with Fox News’ Ed Henry on Sunday.

An atmosphere of hate has been developing in this country over the last few years. A lot of it is emanating from Washington and it’s having an effect on all of us,” he said.

When asked if he was blaming Trump, he said, “not just the president,” but said “we need a different tone, starting in Washington … that encourage this country to actually find some unity and some common ground” that he does not think the country has had in recent years.

Governor Andrew Cuomo also didn’t waste any time blaming the president for the recent spate of anti-Semitic attacks on Jewish people in New York state, first in a quick situational update given Sunday morning to reporters – without directly mentioning Trump by name:

And then later during a telephone interview he did on MSNBC in which weekend host Kendis Gibson helpfully steered Cuomo to directly pin the attacks on Trump:

CUOMO: What can anyone make of President Trump’s tweets, right? They say more about the sender than anything else. New York, he believes, is a Democratic state, and this is how he plays to his partisan base. By demonizing Democrats. “Democrats are evil, Democrats are bad, Democrats have lost their minds, they’re anti-American.” You foment that hate, and then you’re shocked when you see these episodes of hate across the country?

That has now become the dialogue and the currency of this nation. And it’s politics, but it resonates outside of the politics into society. And now you see people who are acting out on those hateful acts, and people are impressionable, and some people are lawless, and some people are vessels, and some people are ill. And they hear it, and they respond.

Cuomo’s and de Blasio’s blame-game playing is as ridiculously off the mark now as it was back in June when de Blasio absurdly characterized the dramatic rise of anti-Semitism in New York City as a “right-wing movement” in spite of the fact that many of the suspects in cases over the last several years do not fit the profile of a MAGA hat-wearing Trump supporter.

If Democratic “leaders” in New York are as interested in solving this problem as they claim they are, one place they can look is by way of reversing course on their bail reforms, which were signed into law back in April and which take effect on January 1st. At the time, Gov. Cuomo hailed the reforms as one way to make the system more fair and to stop jail overcrowding:

Criminal Justice Reform: New York continues its commitment to a fairer criminal justice system with the inclusion of the following reforms in the FY 2020 Enacted Budget:

Reforming Bail and Pretrial Detention Reform: As part of a groundbreaking plan to modernize New York’s bail system, cash bail will be eliminated for misdemeanors and non-violent felonies, alongside a new requirement that police officers must issue desk appearance tickets to most people charged with misdemeanors and Class E felonies, rather than making a custodial arrest. Together, these reforms will ensure approximately 90 percent of people charged, but not yet convicted of a crime, are not sitting in jail awaiting trial solely because they do not have the economic resources to meet bail.

Prosecutors, judges, the law enforcement community, and local officials in cities across the state aren’t happy with the law.

Even though the policy hasn’t officially gone into effect, it’s already having a negative impact on residents. Case in point, a woman who admittedly targeted and attacked three Jewish women on Friday was set free on Saturday without bail. On Sunday, she was arrested again for another attack:

A Brooklyn miscreant accused of slapping three Orthodox Jewish women last week struck again on Sunday and was busted for assaulting another woman, police said.

A day after she was released without bail on charges stemming from the Friday attack, Tiffany Harris was charged with assault for slugging a 35-year-old in the face on Eastern Parkway near Underhill Avenue in Prospect Heights at about 9:15 a.m., according to police.

It’s unclear if Sunday’s victim is Jewish — and police weren’t treating the incident as a hate crime. The victim suffered swelling and bruising to her right eye from the pummeling, police said.

This is Tiffany Harris:

Woman accused of assaulting 3 Jewish women arrested again day after release https://t.co/oJ0WETNFQb pic.twitter.com/Zg52mZ7TFG

— New York Post (@nypost) December 30, 2019

The NY Post also noted in another piece that Brooklyn prosecutors didn’t even ask for bail Saturday knowing the new law would go into effect in a few days. The judge also made mention of the new law when addressing Harris:

“So I’m releasing her on consent and also because it will be required under the statute in just a few days,” [Brooklyn Criminal Court Judge Laura Johnson] said.

“Ms. Harris you’re being released on your own recognizance.”

Furthermore, most of those charged in other anti-Semitic attacks over the last week (outside of the Monsey attack) will also be allowed back out on the streets in short order:

The legislation requires arraignment judges to set free suspects in any non-sexual assault that doesn’t actually cause a physical injury, even in cases of hate crime attacks.

[…]

The no-injury loophole will mean a quick get-out-of-jail-free card for all but one of the accused attackers in the eight Hanukkah-timed, anti-Semitic bias crimes that have terrified the city’s Orthodox communities.

As Ed Henry did with de Blasio in so many words, someone needs to ask Gov. Cuomo in a future interview if President Trump is also responsible for these new bail reform policies that quickly let criminals out on the street again.

There is nothing Democrats won’t blame him for, but if they want to start keeping in real, they can look in the mirror going forward when they want to pinpoint leadership failures.

— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —

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