NEW YORK CITY — Mayor Bill de Blasio's call to change state laws to allow judges to consider the danger posed by a suspect in determining bail contradicts his progressive stance, criminal justice reform advocates say.
Following the shooting death of Police Officer Randolph Holder, de Blasio said that Tyrone Howard, the Harlem man charged in the shooting death, should not have been free.
"Tyrone Howard simply should not have been on the streets. Based on his criminal history, based on his history of recidivism, based on his constant violations of parole and probation, he just should not have been on the streets," the mayor said at a City Hall press conference Friday.
Glenn Martin, a criminal justice reform advocate and founder of JustLeadershipUSA, said he was disappointed by the mayor's "harsh" and "regressive" rhetoric.
"I think this is yet another example of how progressives run for the hills whenever there is a challenge to their own policies or the chance of them being called soft on crime," said Martin, who spent six years in prison.
Howard, 30, had been arrested in 2014 as part of a major drug bust in East Harlem but was ordered into a drug treatment diversion program which allowed him to avoid prison. Howard eventually stopped attending.
New York is currently one of three states that does not allow judges to consider the danger level of defendants when determining bail.
Police were searching for Howard for a September shooting prior to the death of Holder.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. also opposed Howard's participation in the diversion program.
Office of Court Administration spokesman David Bookstaver said Howard was out on $35,000 bail and still would have been free even if he wasn't placed in a diversionary program.
The Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Practice Chief Justine M. Luongo and Deborah L. Wright, president of the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, said the changes de Blasio is calling for are unnecessary.
Judges have a variety of bail options to insure defendants return to court, the purpose of bail, and can even hold individuals without bail, they said.
"While the death of Police Officer Holder is a tragedy for the entire city, changing the law to undermine the presumption of innocence is not the answer and would have disastrous consequences for fairness in our criminal justice system," the pair said in a statement.
De Blasio, who ran on a campaign of improving the relationship between police and the community, has also called for an end to mass incarceration.
Earlier this month, de Blasio announced a "bail lab" which will seek alternatives to cash bail for low-level defenders. Many poor people accused of a crime often end up spending months or years on Rikers Island because they can't make relatively low bails.
De Blasio believes there is no contradiction with his call for reform of state bail laws because some criminals are "irredeemable" and need to remain in jail.
"While it’s absolutely appropriate to address the inappropriate mass incarceration that’s pervaded this nation for decades — we have to make that reform — and that revolves around drug offenses and other non-violent offenses first and foremost," de Blasio said Wednesday.
On Friday he added, "I’m a progressive person, I’m a humanitarian, but I can also tell you some people are irredeemable, and unless they are treated very, very differently, they pose a danger to our society and we have to look that in the face."
Martin said there is a clear contradiction in de Blasio's rhetoric and policy positions because it fails to recognize that an overwhelming majority of those convicted of crime, regardless of their offense, will eventually be freed.
Instead, De Blasio seems to be trying to avoid the response he received from the city's police unions following the murder of officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos in December 2014, said Martin.
Following the decision of a grand jury not to indict the officer who placed Staten Island father Eric Garner in a chokehold causing his death, de Blasio said he had to train his son Dante on how to interact with police safely.
Patrolmen's Benevolent Association president Patrick Lynch said that de Blasio had "blood" on his "hands" after the two officers were killed because his earlier comments contributed to an atmosphere of disdain for officers.
Some members of the NYPD turned their backs on the mayor when he attended the officers' funerals.
"Everything since that moment has been incredibly deferential to police," said Martin. "It's an over compensation designed to protect himself politically."
City Hall pointed out that de Blasio's position on bail reform was not new.
In January, de Blasio aide Phil Walzak said the mayor supported giving judges more discretion regarding bail after de Blasio was criticized for reinstating a criminal court judge who released a suspect who had posted threats against the NYPD on Facebook.
On Friday, de Blasio stuck strongly to his position that different laws might have made a difference in Holder's case.
"This is a clear pattern of criminal activity and a clear pattern of violating the parole and probation orders," de Blasio said of Howard,
"In fact, had the law been changed, I think the outcomes could’ve been very different."
