Yonkers Insider: Statement from Yonkers GOP.

 

Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, we the Yonkers GOP, call on YOU to reform the 2017 Raise the Age law and the 2019 New York bail reform law immediately, before more innocent people get hurt or lose their lives. As the Majority Leader of the New York State Senate, it is your responsibility to protect and serve New Yorkers. When you create laws that allow criminals to be unreasonably released from jail and take away Judges discretion to keep a clear danger to society incarcerated, you become personally accountable for the violent crime of these individuals. You are putting CRIMINALS over CONSTITUENTS!

Criminals with a track record of violent crime and a complete disregard for the law should not be on the street. In fact, the overwhelming majority of violent crimes happening in our state are coming from people whose lengthy criminal records are clear indicators that they will repeatedly break the law. Many of these crimes could have been avoided had they not been released due to the pro-crime legislation.

When creating the criminal justice reform laws, you and your colleagues often said that giving judges more discretion in setting or denying bail would disproportionately affect “black, brown, and poor defendants.” You are failing to recognize that these communities are bearing the brunt of the increase in crime caused by your reform laws.

Some of the reforms we are advocating for are:

- Repeal the privacy provision of "The Raise The Age" law.

- Give judges the power to jail suspects who pose a danger to their community.

- Teens who are caught with an illegal gun will be tried in criminal, not family, court.

- Removing felonies that are applicable for immediate release under the 2019 Bail Reform

Law.

As our representative in the New York State Senate, we demand change now. We are prepared to mobilize our voter base to exercise our rights to free speech and protest peacefully and legally. We will campaign against your re-election, as you have proven to be irresponsible. Your priorities do not align with your constituency.

We will not stop until changes are made.