State lawmakers’ recent tweak to controversial criminal justice reforms is nothing more than “a band-aid on a gaping wound,” Staten Island’s top prosecutor said Sunday.
Richmond County District Attorney Michael McMahon said the move in Albany last week to give judges more authority to set bail on criminal cases won’t be enough to address rampant crime in the Big Apple.
“We’re certainly glad that they did something. But we’re worried that this is a band-aid on a gaping wound because we still have charges that are not bail-eligible,” McMahon told host John Catsimatidis on WABC770 AM’s “Cats Roundtable” show.
“So the commercial burglar, who’s really terrorizing New York City now, or the drug dealer or the person who has a gun history, a history of violence, has a history of violating orders of protection, they will still not be bail eligible,” McMahon continued.
“So, it’s incremental change but it’s clearly not enough because we see the changes from Albany over the last few years of the laws — bail reform, ‘Raise the Age,’ discovery — has taken away accountability from the criminal justice system and we see what happens,” McMahon said. “Crime is up.”
The tough-on-crime prosecutor spoke just days after Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that the state’s new budget package includes changes in the bail-reform law, which barred judges from setting bail for most crimes and required them to consider the “least restrictive” conditions on bail-eligible cases.
The $229 billion spending package eliminates the “least restrictive” clause in the law. But judges are still prohibited from setting bail in most cases.
The plan also leaves untouched rigid timelines for prosecutors to provide “discovery” — or evidence to defense lawyers, as well as the “Raise the Age” law that upped the age for defendants to be treated as adults to 18.
“We are dedicated to keeping the people of Staten Island safe,” McMahon said. “But it’s difficult when we arrest someone and they are given a desk-appearance ticket — a summons to come back in 20 days — and they’re back on the streets even though they may have committed a low-level assault.
“We need to raise our voices to our legislators and say, ‘You created this mess.'”
Catsimatidis on Sunday also talked crime with former Gov. David Paterson — who slammed lawmakers in the five boroughs for calling out the NYPD over its potentially budget-busting overtime costs.
“The City Council picked out overtime being spent at the police department as something they wanted to cut,” Paterson told the host. “[Mayor] Eric Adams said, ‘How could you be wanting to be cutting overtime for the police with the crime we’re facing right now unless you’re against the police?’
“He said, ‘I’m for the police and I’m not going to allow that.'”
Asked how many members of the 51-member New York City Council were “common sense” legislators, Paterson said he could only think of six.
“I think there are a lot of City Council members that have common sense, but I think that they don’t appreciate the public’s viewpoint,” the Democrat said.
“You know, when people first turn for office they want to meet people they want to hear what they have to say,” Paterson continued. “They stay there for periods of time — and it doesn’t have to be long — they have this conduct which I call, ‘We know better.’
“‘Yes, the public says it’s crime, but that’s an overstatement. That’s actually a perception. We actually know better.’ Whether it’s a perception or not, if it’s disturbing people you as a public servant have to respond to it,” he said. “You can’t respond by saying people are misunderstanding. That it’s a perception Perceptions become reality.”
The former governor did not identify the six lawmakers he thought were “common sense.”
Paterson noted that all of the council seats are up for re-election in November.
