Buffalo, NY (WBEN) A new Siena Poll finds 72 percent of New Yorkers want judges to have more discretion in determining bail in serious crimes. Under New York's bail reform, judges must use the least restrictive measures in determining whether to grant bail.
Retired New York State Supreme Court Justice Penny Wolfgang tells WBEN judges should have full discretion in determining bail, as they did before the bail reform took effect. "That means they could decide based on each individual case, if bail should be set, how much bail should be set, in what form it should be set. And this would be dependent, as it always was, on many factors involving each individual case, such as the person's prior record, the person's commitment to the community, the person's danger to the community, the employment record of the person until there's all these facts, the circumstances of the crime, the circumstances of the case," explains Wolfgang. She says it's frustrating when a repeat offender is brought back to court, and the charge doesn't qualify for bail.
Wolfgang believes the legislature seems to be divided on this critical issue. "The governor has already stated that she wants to make this bail reform and give judges more discretion. But the legislature seems to be resistant ... and I don't know how it's going to work out. I don't know if this poll would affect them. But hopefully the legislature should be responsive to the people," notes Wolfgang.
Erie County District Attorney John Flynn says the only change on the table is the least restrictive measures put in the statute in 2020. "It handcuffed judges to a certain extent by not having all the options. It also contradicted another part of the statute that said that when judges are putting bail on someone, here are 10 factors that you can consider," notes Flynn.
Flynn says he's realistic about the poll's findings. "Making an educated guess, I'm going to say that the overwhelming majority of the 72% came from the upstate area, and that probably the overwhelming majority of the 28%, who said that they didn't want any changes were from New York City, or other big cities across the state," notes Flynn. He says the powers that be in the legislature don't want any changes. "Their constituents are telling them that they don't want any changes, because their constituency is much more lenient than upstate voters are.
With a budget due April 1st, Flynn thinks lawmakers may think Governor Hochul has the upper hand and allow the least restrictive measure to be to be removed for other budgetary items.
