Remember back when politicians were touting the success of bail reform? Remember the meaningless and deceptive numbers they threw around?
NYC Comptroller Brad Lander claimed in a report that only 1% of people released on bail under bail reform are rearrested for a violent felony while their case is pending.
State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said the number was 2%.
Remember how the news media and progressive politicians repeated those numbers and claimed that bail reform was a success and had no impact on crime, even as crime rose 30-40% after bail reform took effect?
Well, a new study of bail reform outside New York City — suburbs and upstate — prepared by John Jay College of Criminal Justice’s Data Collaborative for Justice shows that 66% of the people released under bail reform who had a recent prior arrest were re-arrested within two years of their release.
The DCJ study also showed that 67% of defendants who had a recent prior violent felony arrest in the past year who were released under bail reform were re-arrested within two years of their arraignment.
Almost half — 49% — were rearrested for a felony.
This is not rocket science. Anyone involved in the criminal justice system could tell you with a pretty high degree of accuracy that people with long criminal records, especially recent criminal records, tend to continue their criminal activity.
- 66% of the people arrested in the first six months of 2023 in New York State for a felony had a prior conviction or a pending case when they were arrested.
- 20% had a pending non-violent felony
- 10% had a pending violent felony.