The general public security insurance policies Gov. Hochul specified by her State of the State speech Tuesday had been probably music to Mayor Adams’ ears, as he has referred to as on Albany to take up a number of of these proposals throughout this 12 months’s legislative session.
That included Hochul’s vows to roll again among the discovery reforms the state enacted in 2020 and make it simpler to involuntarily hospitalize homeless people deemed incapable of caring for themselves.
However Hochul didn’t handle one longstanding Adams precedence in her speech: Bail reform. Whereas acknowledging the issue of recidivism within the felony justice system, Hochul spoke of the necessity to work inside present bail legal guidelines.
An ongoing subject of concern for the mayor, Adams instructed Politico simply on Jan. 2 that individuals can maintain “repeatedly” committing crimes “due to” the state’s 2019 reforms, which eradicated money bail for many misdemeanor and non-violent felony prices.
He then instructed the outlet his Albany priorities this 12 months is to push the state to undertake new insurance policies on “bail, discovery, mental health.”
Throughout Tuesday’s speech, which Adams attended, Hochul solely talked about bail as soon as, and it was within the context of using the legal guidelines presently on the books, not altering them.
“I want judges statewide to use all the powers under our recent bail law changes to stop the rinse and repeat cycle of offenders being released over and over without consequences only to commit crimes again,” she stated.
Mayor Adams attends Gov. Hochul’s 2025 State of the State Tackle in Albany. (Mike Groll / Workplace of Governor Kathy Hochul)
After adopting the preliminary reforms in 2019, the state backtracked barely in 2020 and 2023 by giving judges extra discretion in setting money bail.
In a press release praising Hochul’s speech, Adams didn’t point out her lack of bail discuss. He stated they each “agree that we must make changes to the criminal justice system to prevent repeat offenders from doing further harm to our communities.”
In feedback Monday at Metropolis Corridor, Adams struck an analogous observe. “Recidivism is the issue for me, not bail,” he stated.
Queens state Sen. Michael Gianaris, who serves as his chamber’s deputy majority chief, recommended Hochul averted specializing in bail for good purpose, saying any makes an attempt to additional undo the 2019 reforms are lifeless within the water within the Democrat-controlled Legislature.
Gov. Hochul delivers her 2025 State of the State Tackle within the Kitty Carlisle Theatre in Albany. (Darren McGee / Workplace of Governor Kathy Hochul)
On different public security fronts in her speech, Hochul totally embraced Adams’ viewpoints.
Hochul shared Adams’ push for making it simpler to power folks dwelling on the streets or within the subway system into hospitals, saying she needs to vary the requirements that presently dictate when involuntary committal can occur.
Below present guidelines, folks can solely be involuntarily dedicated in the event that they pose an “immediate threat to themselves or others.”
Hochul stated the legal guidelines “must be even stronger.”
“And that’s why I’m willing to stand up and say we need to expand involuntary commitment into a hospital to include someone who does not possess the mental capacity to care for themselves such as refusing help with the basics: clothing, food, shelter, medical care,” she stated, echoing a proposed modification supported by Adams.
“Now critics will say this criminalizes poverty or homelessness. I say that is flat out wrong.”
Gov. Hochul delivers the 2025 State of the State Tackle. (Mike Groll / Workplace of Governor Kathy Hochul)
Hochul additionally echoed Adams’ considerations the invention reforms the state enacted in 2020 — designed to make sure equity for defendants — are having unintended penalties.
The reforms imposed new necessities on prosecutors to show over proof to defendants extra shortly throughout pretrial durations, and supporters have stated the previous system contributed to wrongful convictions, mass incarceration and case delays.
However Hochul argued the reforms are leading to circumstances being dismissed on deadline technicalities. A coverage e book offered by her workplace says she is going to search to vary the present regulation in order that “a discovery error is addressed in a manner proportional to the discovery error itself rather than as a technical mechanism to have an entire case dismissed.”
Within the enviornment of public security, Hochul additionally stated she’s going to fund the deployment of a police officer on each subway prepare in NYC in a single day for at the very least six months.
The Authorized Assist Society, the general public defender group that supported the state’s 2019 and 2020 reforms, slammed Hochul for backing Adams’ discovery and involuntary dedication priorities.
“Waiting for those with serious mental illness to reach a breaking point, forcibly hospitalizing and medicating them, and then releasing them back into the community only to repeat the cycle fails to address public safety or meet the needs of people with mental illness,” the group stated in a press release.
“Instead, as the governor also suggests, we should increase access to outpatient services and invest in models like Assertive Community Treatment teams, which meet people where they are and provide direct support.”
Initially Revealed: January 14, 2025 at 5:51 PM EST
