But the policing has become more intensive, more invasive, more aggressive. So what I'm calling for is a rethink on why we've turned all of these social problems over to the police to manage. And as we dial those things back, then we can think more concretely about what the rest of policing should look like and how that could be reformed.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Friday 100 percent of employees in nonessential business must work from home. That comes days after the governor mandated bars and restaurants to close their doors to sit-down diners.
Rinaldo said the New York State bail reform that went into effect at the beginning of the year has been helpful in reducing the number of arrests. As a result of the reform, police now issue appearance tickets for most minor crimes, resulting in them taking fewer people into custody.
“Because of bail reform and because we have so many people out of custody, they’re able to care for themselves, care for families, be nimble, flexible, respond to this pandemic,” said Kevin Stadelmaier, the chief attorney for Buffalo Legal Aid’s Criminal Defense Unit.
In addition to serious crime and arrests being down, Rinaldo said calls for service have decreased. And with fewer cars on the road, fewer accidents are being reported.
A simple question at a Bernie Sanders town hall last spring sparked a debate new to prime time: Should incarcerated people be allowed to vote? Sanders said yes—his home state of Vermont (and its neighbor, Maine) are the only states to give all people in prison that right. Later, Joe Biden said no.
Yet in a country awash in political polling, the views of those who are most affected remain a mystery: the 2.3 million people behind bars. Do they want to vote? If given the right, who would they vote for? What issues do they care about most? No one’s ever really asked.
This is why The Marshall Project partnered with Slate to conduct the first-of-its-kind political survey inside prisons and jails across the country. Now that criminal justice is a campaign issue and many states are restoring voting rights to those convicted of felonies, we asked thousands of incarcerated people across the country for their opinions on criminal justice reform, which political party they identify with and which presidential candidate they’d support. We heard from more than 8,000 people.
“It exposes the what has been the undercurrent for us of the bail rollback movement,” Jessica Wisneski, a co-director of Citizens Action of New York, said of the Facebook group. “It's this undercurrent of racism and it's an undercurrent that is perpetuating this kind of Trumpian fear-mongering, racist, anti-immigrant, anti-woman rhetoric that is all over – right wing national politics showing up right here in New York.”