Republican state legislators and law enforcement are pushing for the passage of a law to strengthen bail restrictions on felonies and Class A misdemeanors in New York, now being called the “PROTECT Act.”
The bill would introduce a “dangerousness standard” for judges, something New York law has never had, even before 2019 reforms.
State law currently only stipulates that someone who has a case pending for harm against a person or property and then is charged again with a crime of the same manner can be held without bail.
But there is no qualification for other crimes, like larceny and theft, Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter said.
"We're just saying, clean the thing up. If someone's dangerous, 'here's the definition of dangerous,' and a judge can consider that for pretrial," he said. "Here's what a repeat offender looks like. We can define it. It's very confusing right now in our criminal justice system."
The option to withhold bail for individuals who could pose a threat is important because judges have accessibility to integral information, said State Assemblymember Angelo Morinello, a former city judge in Niagara Falls.
“When a judge gets a case at the original arraignment, he has information available to him that is not available yet to the defense or to the public," Morinello said. "So he's in a unique position to make these assessments.”
State Senator Pam Helming, who sponsored the bill, says previous attempts to pass it through committee failed, so she is pushing for support from Governor Kathy Hochul to include the legislation in the state’s budget.
Civil rights groups, like the NYCLU, oppose these standards, saying they increase racial disparities.
