Thanks to Speaker Heastie’s leadership, New York State has taken important steps to ensure all who encounter the criminal justice system are treated fairly and equally.
He negotiated and passed the 2019-20 state budget, which eliminated discriminatory cash bail. The budget also reaffirmed the right to a speedy trial to prevent New Yorkers from spending months and even years behind bars awaiting their day in court. Under previous law, the prosecution could repeatedly declare that they were ready for trial, only to ask the judge for more time in court. Speaker Heastie also reformed the discovery process to ensure defendants aren’t left in the dark until the day the trial begins and aren’t forced to take plea deals without all the available information at their disposal.
Flaws in the pre-trial process, paired with an unjust bail system, can have disastrous consequences as the tragedy of Kalief Browder shows. Kalief was imprisoned at age 16 for nearly three years, 800 days of which were spent in solitary confinement, awaiting trial over a stolen backpack because his family was unable to afford bail. While the charge was ultimately dismissed, Kalief tragically died by suicide two years later. No young person should ever suffer the way Kalief did, and Speaker Heastie is committed to making that a reality.
In 2017, Speaker Heastie fought to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 18 because a young person shouldn’t be sent to an adult prison facility because of a nonviolent offense. Before New York made this long-overdue change, it was one of only two states that prosecuted all 16- and 17-year-olds as adults. This law ensures that the state’s criminal justice system gives youthful offenders the opportunity to grow and recover, instead of simply taking away their futures.
While these long-overdue reforms are a step in the right direction, there’s still more to do to address inequality in the criminal justice system. Going forward, Speaker Heastie will continue fighting for further restrictions on the use of solitary confinement.