Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Saturday that New Yorkers should give the state’s newly-implemented bail reforms “a shot.”
Ocasio-Cortez, 30, told the New York Post, “Give it a shot. We’ve had almost no time since these things have passed. So I would just say, in this environment with political pressure, to maybe just say let’s just slow down a bit.”
New York’s bail reforms, which were implemented this year, prevent judges from imposing bail for people who commit minor crimes or nonviolent offenses. The law has been blamed for allowing offenders to reoffend, including one who allegedly slapped Orthodox Jewish women.
In January, a judge intentionally ignored the new bail rules and placed bond on a convicted drug trafficker, saying he was a “menace to society.” His decision was ultimately overruled. The offender was released and then cut off his ankle monitor and disappeared.
Ocasio-Cortez urged the crowd to give the bail reforms more time before calling for the law to be amended.
“What I would just say is that we should just give this time. It’s been five minutes,” she told the New York Post.
“I am not interested in just showing up every two years to ask our community for your vote. I am interested in making deep investments in the Bronx and in Queens,” Ocasio-Cortez said at the Saturday event.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed legislation to fix the bail reform law. The proposal would completely eliminate cash bail, but would also give judges more leeway when it comes to imposing bail restrictions.
The freshman congresswoman is currently campaigning for reelection in New York’s 14th Congressional District.
