NEW YORK – With budget negotiations advancing, organizations across New York State continue to reject proposals to further criminalize poverty and incarcerate more low-income New Yorkers pretrial. Brooklyn Defender Services, Center for Community Alternatives, Citizen Action of New York, Envision Freedom Fund, FWD.us, Innocence Project, Long Island Social Justice Action Network, New Hour for Women and Children – LI, New York Communities for Change, New York Working Families Party, VOCAL-NY, The Legal Aid Society, Release Aging People in Prison Campaign, The Bronx Defenders, The Gathering for Justice, Vera Institute of Justice, and Zealous released the following statement:

“We are increasingly alarmed by proposals being considered by the Governor and legislators to increase pretrial incarceration for people accused of low-level offenses as part of  New York’s state budget. These are not ‘tweaks,’ but a reversal that would undo years of progress on justice reform, further criminalize poverty in New York, and do nothing to improve our collective safety. Moreover, the proposed changes do not rely on actual evidence. The data remains clear: bail reform is not the cause for an increase in gun violence in New York. Instead, bail reform is working, making sure we don’t keep legally innocent people in jail pretrial just because they can’t afford their release. We urge elected leaders to reject these proposals and make investments that will deliver real safety.”