Trump and the NY Post are using lies and
fearmongering to stop bail reform.
We won't let it happen.
Demand the NY Post correct their lies and stop
spreading misinformation.
Dear friend,
Earlier this year, New York state made history and took a huge step towards ending mass incarceration with the help of advocates, community organizers, and Color Of Change members like you. Now racists everywhere from law enforcement to the media, and even Trump, are trying to smear our wins for justice and incite fear before the laws go into effect. We can't let them.
Communities worked hard to pass historic legislation that overhauled New York's broken jail system by instituting bail reform that means thousands of people who have not been convicted of a crime will no longer suffer in jail simply because they can't afford bail.1 The law doesn't go into effect until January, but local officials are preparing to release eligible people in December so there isn't too much of a backlog in January.2 It only makes sense. But then the New York Post wrote multiple inflammatory articles claiming 900 criminals would be released onto the street and spread lies that New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio would be giving people Mets tickets and gift cards as a "reward."3 And Trump jumped on the bandwagon with one of his infamous tweets. The city hasn't even determined what their supervised release program will need to look like or expand to for people released under the new law yet.4 And it's not even confirmed that Mets tickets are a part of the plan. But for the past four years, NYC's supervised release program has helped people meet their needs in order to make it back to court. They get $10 gift cards to put food on the table, cellphones so they can get court reminders, and metrocards so they can show up to court.5 These are basic necessities that help families who couldn’t afford bail navigate the justice system and stay together -- and it's working better than jail.
Trump and the NY Post are lying to scare people. But we aren't scared. And we can't be silent. The stakes are really high in New York. Lawmakers are already working against the new bail law to roll it back--and the country is watching. If we all stand up and demand the New York Post corrects their articles and tells the truth, we can put an end to this smear campaign against justice. Will you sign the petition ?
Since the launch of New York City's supervised release program in 2016, the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice said more than 15,000 people have entered the program, 92 percent of them had no felony re-arrests while in the program. And 87 percent of all participants made every court appearance while in program.6 The NY Post is trying to scare people into thinking the $12 million program is dangerous and a waste of taxpayer dollars, but it costs $ 828 per day to jail one person at Rikers Island7-- and we know how dangerous it is there. Kalief Browder nearly died on Rikers Island and later committed suicide because of the trauma he faced there -- all because of an unjust bail system that kept an innocent young man locked up without any help. It would cost taxpayers nearly $273 million per year to jail the same 900 people who will instead be freed to be with their families, get back to work, and fight their cases from a position of freedom.
Here’s the truth about the New York Post’s and Trump’s lies :
- There is no proof anyone released under this new law will get Mets tickets. One donor gave Mets tickets to teenagers in NYC’s supervised release program ONCE, over a year ago.8 The city did not pay for it.
- People held in jail before trial are legally innocent, and have not been convicted of a crime. They are not criminals. The presumption of innocence is a fundamental and constitutional right. Saying “criminals will be let out into the streets” is just another scare tactic that could lead to an increase of violence against these 900 mostly Black and Brown people.
- Getting our people out of inhumane and violent jails doesn't make communities less safe. In fact, extensive research -- and real-life examples from across New York State show that LESS reliance on incarceration actually delivers MORE public safety. In New York City, the jail population has dropped from 22,000 to 7,000 over the past three decades and crime is lower than ever before.9 How ? Legislators, advocates and stakeholders focused on keeping people out of jail, and investing more in community-based resources such as housing, treatment, services and care. The result ? Less incarceration and more public safety.
The real problem is that far too many people are going to jail to begin with - a problem that the new pretrial justice laws were designed to address. Many New Yorkers have been jailed for months or even years while presumed innocent and fighting the charges against them. But even one day in jail can totally derail a person’s life.10 They can lose their jobs and housing. The state may take their children away. The new pretrial justice laws ensure people aren't jailed for being poor. And they force prosecutors to guarantee a speedy and fair trial, where they turn over the evidence they have in a timely fashion. All of these changes are positive for the state of New York and the rest of the country where other lawmakers are looking to what happened here as a model of how to address their own jail crises. Already GOP lawmakers have used this hysteria to introduce legislation that would make the bail reform law less effective and maintain the status quo rather than maintain the presumption of innocence.11 The lies Trump and the NY Post are spreading have a real effect that could rollback all of our progress.
This isn't the New York Post's first time trying to incite irrational and racist fear against change. Earlier this year, the publication caught heat for publishing a cover story of Rep. Ilhan Omar, fashioning her in front of the burning Twin Towers to stoke racist, xenophobic fear based on her Muslim faith.12 It sparked a boycott of the paper's sales in bodegas across New York City. We need to send New York Post a message that we won't stand idly by while they try to decimate the hard work communities in New York have done for decades to transform the jail crisis -- which has cost taxpayers millions of dollars without increasing public safety. They need to correct the lies in their articles. They must stop spreading misinformation. And together, by calling out their unethical "reporting" we can create a counter-narrative that fights back with the hard truth : ending mass incarceration makes us all safer and brings us closer to real justice in this country.
Until justice is real,
Clarise, Rashad, Arisha, Scott, Erika, Malachi, Marybeth, Marena, Madison, Leonard, Tamar, Neosho, and the rest of the Color Of Change team.
References :
1. "Highlights of New York's 2019 Bail Reform Law," Vera Institute for Justice, July 2019
2. "City Courts Are Getting A Jump Start on Bail Reforms Ahead of January," Gothamist, 4 November, 2019
3. "Nearly 900 city inmates may be freed before bail-reform law takes effect," New York Post, 3 November 2019
4. City Courts Are Getting A Jump Start on Bail Reforms Ahead of January," Gothamist, 4 November, 2019
5. Ibid
6. Ibid
7. "Comptroller Stringer: Despite a Decline in Incarceration, Correction Spending, Violence, and Use of Force Continued to Rise in FY 2018," NY Comptroller's Office, 22 January 2019
8. City Courts Are Getting A Jump Start on Bail Reforms Ahead of January," Gothamist, 4 November, 2019
9. "Neighborhood Stat: Strengthening Public Safety Through Community Empowerment," Center for American Progress, 2 October 2019
10. "If We Left Everybody Go There Would Be No One In Prison," NY Times, 13 May 2018
11. "NY Bail Reform Would Be Curbed Under GOP Proposals In Legislature," New York Law Journal, 7 November 2019
12. "The New York Post's Craven Ilhan Omar Cover Was An Insult to All New Yorkers," GQ Magazine, 12 April 2019
Color Of Change is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. Help keep our movement strong.
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