The RNC research account tweeted Friday:
Mom of slain New York teen calls out Democrat Kathy Hochul for being soft-on-crime and bail reform. “The bail reform is not working…we have criminals coming out of jail, out of prison”
Eve Hendricks’ 17-year-old son was killed by a stray bullet in 2020. Since then, she’s criticized criminal reform, including the 2020 changes to the bail system. Last week, she slammed Gov. Kathy Hochul for failing to keep dangerous people locked up.
“Maybe because it’s not their children that are getting killed,” Hendricks said at a pro-police rally in Midtown Manhattan. Hendricks’ comments came after NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell claimed the current laws don’t give judges enough leeway. Sewell added that in order to prevent future tragedies, judges must be allowed to consider a suspect’s potential dangerousness.
“Now, Eve is asking for minor changes to NY laws, including giving judges the ability to consider someone’s dangerousness when determining bail — all in hopes that another parent will never feel her pain,” Sewell tweeted.
The suspect in the fatal shooting is 25-year-old Najhim Luke. Luke is currently locked up on Rikers Island. His bail status is “Remanded.” This means a judge considered his dangerousness when determining bail and decided to remand him to custody under the current system.
The idea that bail reform puts onerous restrictions on judges is one of the most popular, and false, talking points about the criminal system. Even if judges couldn’t remand — which, clearly, they can — they could always make bail one hundred billion dollars or whatever. What’s to stop them? I don’t think there’s ever been a lawsuit or any other repercussions faced by judges who high-ball bail. And a judge’s worst nightmare is letting someone out on bail and then having them kill their wife. So they’re naturally prone to remand literally or virtually with a high sum.
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