Community advocates mark Human Rights Day
TROY, N.Y. » On Human Rights Day, the Capital District community joined statewide rallies to celebrate historic pretrial reforms and welcome the end of a system that has devastated families and communities.
Local leaders were joined by faith leaders and directly impacted residents in front of the Rensselaer County Courthouse.
In 2018, over 22,000 New Yorkers languished in jail each night. Nearly 70% were awaiting trial — they had not been convicted but were behind bars because they could not afford bail. The pretrial system violated the presumption of innocence, criminalized lowincome people, and led to the coercion of plea deals, according to a news release.
“On January 1, when the new pretrial laws go into effect, something unprecedented will happen in New York,” Civil Rights Campaigns Director for Citizen Action of New York Erin George said in the release. “Thousands of legally innocent people will be able to await their day in court from home, instead of suffering in jail simply because they cannot afford the price tag on their freedom. For decades, mass incarceration has devastated black, brown, and low-income communities, while the wealthy are released for the exact same charges. Our new bail and discovery laws will level the playing field.
“Last year, New York took an important step in reforming the state’s criminal discovery and bail system, giving people more access to evidence that will be presented against them and limiting our reliance on money bail. These reforms will have a tremendous impact on thousands of New Yorkers and see far fewer people jailed before they see a judge simply because of the size of their bank account. New York cannot afford to reverse course and follow a handful of politicians who insist that criminalizing poverty is justice,” Melanie Trimble, New York Civil Liberties Union, Capital Region Chapter, remarked.
“Instead of trying to stop these reforms and put more of our young people in jail, the District Attorneys should hold public officials and police accountable to the same standards as they hold the people in my community. How are we going to teach our children to respect the law when they see that police officers can literally get away with murder?” Messiah James Cooper, Member of Justice for Dahmeek, and uncle of Troy police shooting survivor Dahmeek McDonald, remarked.
“Not in my name, not in the name of survivors in this county and across the state, will we allow District Attorneys to talk about ending violence against women and other crimes by promoting jails, courthouses and law enforcement as the answer to prevent these crimes,” Luz Marquez Benbow, Member of Justice for Dahmeek, and an adult survivor of child sexual abuse, rape, and incest, said.
“On this Human Rights Day, I am happy for the accomplishments of bail and discovery reforms. We are making great strides toward justice,” Surraine Thomas, Member of Citizen Action of New York, added.