"Bail reform is well meaning, but there are unintended consequences," a prosecutor said.
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On Jan. 1, a landmark New York law
curtailing the use of cash bail went into effect, signaling a leap in a nationwide movement to reduce the number of people held in jails.
But after less than a week under the new system, elected officials are already having second thoughts, rattled by stories of suspects' being set free and committing new crimes ─ including that of a woman accused of an anti-Semitic attack in New York City.
Across the state, opponents of the new law have publicized cases of suspects set free ─
a serial bank robber,
a repeat burglar,
a man accused of manslaughter,
an alleged hit-and-run drunk driver ─ which they say demonstrate how doing away with bail allows dangerous criminals to remain on the streets. Perhaps the most notorious case is that of
Tiffany Harris, a Brooklyn woman who was released after she was alleged to have hit three Jewish women in a bias attack, only to be arrested the next day and accused of an assault on another woman.
The earlier assault came amid a string of anti-Semitic incidents in the New York region, including a
knife attack at a Hanukkah celebration and a
mass shooting at a kosher grocery store. The incidents focused pressure on elected leaders to do more to fight hate crimes.
Since then, Cuomo, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and the leader of the state Senate ─ all Democrats who pushed for the new law ─ have said it needs to be changed. Cuomo's office said he supports adding hate crimes to a list of charges for which judges would be permitted to order a suspect held on bail.