BUFFALO (WBEN) - State Senator Patrick Gallivan held a press conference Friday morning to express his concerns over the changes made to New York's criminal justice system and specifically regarding cash bail reform.
State Senator Pat Gallivan is imploring the Legislature to fix the “dangerous” changes made to bail reform, which eliminated cash bail for most offenses. Gallivan is proposing a “risk assessment tool” that judges could use to determine the need for bail. @NewsRadio930 pic.twitter.com/ZLNBmo4jyi
— Brendan Keany (@BrendanKeany)
January 10, 2020 "What we have seen now across the state is a litany of offenders being arrested, being fingerprinted, being processed and issued appearance tickets, only to go out at re-offend again," said Gallivan.
In response to some of these unintended consequences, Gallivan is proposing the state come up with a risk assessment tool, seen in other states, which judges could use to determine the need for cash bail with the overall goal of limiting bias in a sort of sliding scale measurement.
"A scientific instrument that can be fashioned in a way that is non-biased...it does not discriminate against race, or gender or an individual's economic status," he said. "It can be done - it's a tool only, and you combine that scientific tool with the judicial digression, and you allow a judge to do what judges are supposed to do."
