To say that New York’s controversial bail reform has been a disaster is an understatement. Violent criminals have been set free, only to commit another crime before their court date. This has become such a common occurrence that even Governor Cuomo can’t ignore how bad it’s been, and he now wants the law revamped. “We’re going to work on it because there are consequences we have to adjust for,” Cuomo said.
But, have the liberal activists and politicians of New York state learned their lesson? Apparently not. Last week, about 500 activists and lawmakers organized at the Capitol to call for an end to lifetime prison sentences. Legislation has already been introduced in both the New York State Assembly and Senate.
The Elder Parole Bill would allow criminals that have served fifteen years who are older than 55 to appear before the parole board, regardless of their original sentence or the crime they were convicted of. The Fair and Timely Parole Bill seeks to overhaul the standards for parole and allow someone to be released if they show signs of rehabilitation.
Neither bill has made it out of committee yet, but Senate Republicans are already sounding the alarm against these bills, arguing they are at least equally as bad as the disastrous bail reform. “To think that just because someone is 55 if they’re a serial murderer or a serial rapist that they would get parole… I think every New Yorker needs to know how bad a piece of policy that is equally as bad as bail reform,” said Senator Fred Akshar (R-Binghamton).
Rather than make any effort to fix their disastrous bail reform law, Senate Democrats instead double down on pro-criminal legislation with a bill granting automatic parole hearings to any criminal at the age of 55, regardless of how much time left on their sentence or their crime pic.twitter.com/rE6djRjNmz
— Senator Fred Akshar (@fredakshar) January 15, 2020
Why is it that Democrats seem to represent criminals more than the public at large? Democrats across the country seem intent on putting criminals back on the streets and into voting booths. Prior to bail reform, Governor Cuomo signed an executive order in 2018 restoring voting rights to convicts on parole, so does it really seem like a coincidence that he’s kowtowing to criminals at the expense of the public’s safety?
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Matt Margolis is the author of Trumping Obama: How President Trump Saved Us From Barack Obama’s Legacy and the bestselling book The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis
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