After laying out his blueprint for public safety, Mayor Eric Adams will need the state legislature to help put some of it into effect. Adams is calling on lawmakers to amend the bail reform laws first passed in 2019. But as of now, Democrats in both houses seem unwilling to budge.

While there is much Mayor Eric Adams can do within the NYPD to try to turn the tide on public safety, he also needs help from Albany.

He wants the state legislature to revisit the bail reform laws, and add a dangerousness standard for judges to consider when deciding who gets bail. 

What You Need To Know

  • Mayor Adams wants changes to the bail reform laws as part of his plan to improve public safety

  • State legislative leaders have already tweaked the law once, and are not eager to revisit it

  • Data on whether the law has been a success is incomplete, setting up a showdown between the new mayor and Albany leaders

“New York is the only state in the country that does not allow a judge to detain a defendant who poses an immediate threat to the community,” Adams said. “Forty-nine other states, as well as the federal government, allow judges to consider a defendant’s dangerousness. New York must catch up.”

But the legislature is in no hurry to make changes. Lawmakers first passed bail reform in 2019 and amended it a year later. The result is a complicated law allowing cash bail for some crimes, but not for others. 

Most states eliminated cash bail, but gave judges more discretion. 

“We will wait and see what the mayor proposes and we will have conversations with him like we do with everybody, but I think the position of the legislature is clear,” said Deputy state Senate Majority Leader Micheal Gianaris.

Supporters of the current law point to statistics from the state that show only 2% of those released on bail have been rearrested for violent crimes. But those statistics also show that 20% are rearrested for either a crime or a misdemeanor.

There are currently no statistics to compare how many people were rearrested before the bail reform laws took effect. 

“In the absence of any counter, what was happening before, I can just deal with the statistics I have in front of me, which looks like this is working on some level,” said state Senate Majority Leader Andréa Stewart-Cousins.

People on both sides of the debate acknowledge the statistics do not paint a full picture of the law’s effectiveness. 

“It would have been great if we could have had those type of statistics,” said state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie. “I don’t think you would see a drastic difference in that number. But, we don’t have those numbers.”

But Republicans say Democrats have refused to acknowledge rising crime rates not only in the city, but in other cities throughout New York State. Those statistics are not in dispute. 

“Well, I don’t know how you can say there hasn’t been enough evidence. We are just seeing crime rates throughout the state spiking,” said state Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay. “Clearly, something is causing this. I’m not saying it’s just bail reform. It’s Raise the Age, and the anti-police environment. But bail reform is clearly playing a role.”

Mayor Adams is expected to be in Albany two weeks from now to testify on the proposed state budget. There, he will likely meet with legislative leaders on this issue and many others.