New York City announced a new perks program that aims to get accused criminals to show up at their scheduled court hearings.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a budget deal last spring that included a $12 million plan to release non-violent suspects as part of a bail-reform policy which outlawed cash bail. Under the policy, suspects will not be detained and will be allowed to stay outside jail while awaiting their court dates.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that he would be adding an incentive program to the bail-reform policy that would reward released suspects for showing up at their court dates. Some of the perks include baseball tickets, movie passes, and gift cards to businesses like Applebee’s, Target, and McDonald’s.
A representative for de Blasio touted the policy, saying, “It will continue to use what are nationally recognized as highly effective ways to make sure folks return to court and not have the wasteful, time-consuming, costly warranting process that would otherwise be initiated should someone not return to court.”
While speaking to the press, de Blasio reiterated that point, claiming the incentive program is “proven to be a good investment.”
“I think people should ask a real basic question: ‘What’s going to get trials to happen on a regular basis, speedily?” he said. “What’s going to help us mete out justice the way it’s supposed to be done?”
Cuomo split from de Blasio and claimed he didn’t know about the city’s incentive program.
A senior staffer in Manhattan Criminal Court bashed the incentive program, telling the New York Post, “You’re literally rewarding them for committing a crime.”
The new bail policy could result in as many as 900 criminal suspects to be released from jail. The policy will take effect on Jan. 1 and is retroactive, meaning those in jail today will be released in the new year.
NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill criticized the plan to release some suspect, saying, “But any reform package should allow judges to remand arrested persons who represent a danger to others, as measured by the gravity of the offense for which they have been arrested and also by the gravity of offenses they have committed.”
