Fearmongering from the NY Posts & Julia Marshs of the world isn’t just disdainful. It’s dangerous. Enables harsher laws, blocks smarter reforms, & here, strengthens the cynical effort to kill common sense criminal justice changes, passed democratically in NY, before they start.

Truth about supervised release: “As part of these programs, defendants meet w/ social workers to make sure they attend court, don’t get arrested again & get connected with the drug treatment, mental-health services, housing assistance or job training they may need.”

Truth about incentives: “It’s such a well-proven scientific principle that among serious scientists the question isn’t do rewards work, it’s how frequently to reward and how long to keep rewarding for,” said Dr. Douglas B. Marlowe.”

Truth about the system @nypost & @juliakmarsh now fighting for:

87% cant afford bail set
89% on Rikers are Black/Latino
100% jailed too poor to buy freedom
95% of people return w/o bail
$828/nt cost of Rikers
$300k/yr per person
9x more likely to plead

In 2020, common sense laws begin in NY that are no more than a continuation of the measured, steady decline in those detained pretrial. Ending cash bail for misdemeanors & non-violent felonies. Early, automatic evidence disclosure. These reforms save lives & money& make NY safer.

If we don’t give changes to the status quo of mass punishment a chance, if we instead listen & react to cynical scare tactics of pro-carceral bureaucrats, we are doomed as a society to 2.3 million incarcerated continuing to rise, & Black & Latino communities continuing to suffer.

Thanks to @MarshallProj for raising up this critical issue of the role media plays in driving mass punishment & calling their “misleading” reporting out and strongly. More of this please! https://www.themarshallproject.org/2019/11/14/tabloids-fuel-collective-anxiety-attack-over-bail-ban