The PROTECT Act (S2282) was introduced by Senator Pam Helming
A COLUMN from NY State Senator Tom O’Mara,
I stood with colleagues in the Senate Republican Conference last week to renew our call for what will be one of our top priorities when a new legislative session gets underway in January: Stop ignoring dangerousness.
More specifically: Approve the PROTECT Act.
We’re targeting a policy set in motion in 2019 under then-Governor Andrew Cuomo and an all-Democrat-majority Legislature that enacted far-reaching bail and discovery law reforms. These so-called reforms have been widely criticized as failures by law enforcement throughout this state. They’ve had an alarming impact on crime victims and public safety overall.
Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt has summed it up this way, “Albany Democrats would rather handcuff our judges instead of criminals and this has resulted in more dangerous individuals in the community instead of in jail…It’s time my colleagues in the Capitol wake up to the realization their policies have failed and we must prioritize public safety. The PROTECT Act is the first step to restoring sanity to our communities.”
In other words, Albany Democrat policies have been pro-criminal and not pro-victim. From bail and discovery reforms to equally questionable parole reforms to the ongoing dismantling of New York’s correctional system, criminal justice under total one-party rule has been a spectacular – and a spectacularly dangerous — jailbreak.
Many of us agree that changes for fairness to the accused were warranted. However, the 2019 policies went far too far in the wrong direction. They have proven unworkable. Thousands upon thousands of criminal cases have been dismissed in some prosecutors’ offices. The impact on crime victims has been unacceptable. The consequences for community safety and security have been equally destructive.
In May 2023, shortly after finalizing the enactment of a state budget that, at best, paid lip service to the need to end New York’s failed No Bail experiment, Governor Hochul declared, “We are done with bail. We accomplished what we needed to do.”
No, we did not. We have not accomplished anything meaningful to fix an exceedingly dangerous law, one that continues to put local law enforcement and local communities at risk.
It’s the reason our conference is now behind the PROTECT Act (S2282) introduced by my Finger Lakes legislative colleague, Senator Pam Helming, a measure I cosponsor and strongly support. This legislation, which has drawn bipartisan support, has been developed with direct input from sheriffs, district attorneys, and other law enforcement leaders, as well as community faith leaders. It would give judges a tool to evaluate whether violent offenders should be held pretrial or released. Additionally, the PROTECT Act recognizes the ongoing mental health crisis in this state and would allow courts to order proper evaluation and treatment for individuals who pose an immediate risk to themselves or others.
It’s a straightforward measure. We believe the PROTECT Act would have a dramatic impact to strengthen safety and security in this state and finally begin turning around an approach to law and order that has been careless — and clueless. The Albany Democrat bail and discovery reforms remain the law of the land and a public policy that just keeps waiting for the next victim. The criminals in this society know it. An overriding policy of no consequences for far too many bad actors remains in place and innocent, hard-working, law-abiding, responsible New Yorkers remain at risk because of it.
The PROTECT Act would begin to change it. It would create a judicial risk-assessment tool to help judges determine whether individuals charged with violent crimes should be kept behind bars awaiting trial.
“We have accomplished what we needed to do,” Governor Hochul proclaimed in May 2023. New Yorkers and New York law enforcement, throughout the state, have begged to disagree. Statewide polls have shown that more than half of New Yorkers, nearly 55%, are very or somewhat concerned that they could be a victim of crime.
Law enforcement and crime victims, particularly those victimized by a perpetrator out on the street as a result of the cashless bail law, are behind the PROTECT Act.
One prominent critic of the current policies, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney, stood with us last week and said, “Since taking office in 2022, I have staunchly advocated that for defendants who pose a threat to public safety, dangerousness must be considered as a factor for judges in setting bail. Inexplicably, New York is the only state that turns a blind eye to dangerousness, even when deciding bail for those charged with violent felonies including terrorism, rape, and murder. The PROTECT Act is commonsense legislation. It allows judges to consider the risk posed to the public from dangerous offenders through an intuitive, streamlined risk assessment that protects the rights of both victims and the accused.”
He’s right. He targets the key point: It’s time to stop ignoring dangerousness. New York remains the only state in America not allowing courts to consider public safety when making pretrial custody decisions.
Keep this point squarely in mind: New York is the only state in America approaching criminal justice in this way.
It’s time for New York State to allow judges to start keeping behind bars the dangerous and violent criminals who belong there.
