The Bronx Defenders, The Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defender Services, The Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem and Queens Defenders released the a statement on Monday, Jan. 24, in response to Mayor Eric Adams’ announcement earlier on Monday of his “Blueprint to End Gun Violence” in New York City. The mayor’s announcement follows a roundtable discussion held at a public school in Bedford Park on Saturday, Jan. 22, with crisis management teams and violence interrupters, amid a spate of high-profile police and civilian shootings which have taken place since he took office, including, as reported, the shooting of a now 1-year-old baby girl in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx on Wednesday, Jan. 19.

 

“We appreciate Mayor Adams’ commitment of significant resources to strategies that support a holistic approach to mitigate gun violence by expanding New York City’s Crisis Management System, mental health intervention services, and job development and housing support for young people, people in the foster system and those currently suffering homelessness,” the statement read. “We fully support an expansion of the Summer Youth Employment program, the Fair Futures Initiative and employment opportunities for young people. These efforts will go a long way towards stabilizing communities in need of investment and resources.”

 

However, the signatories went on to say that they did not support the mayor’s focus on what they called discredited punitive and surveillance-based strategies, including his call for additional rollbacks to bail and discovery reform, amendments to Raise the Age, increased use of facial recognition and the reinstatement of what they called “the NYPD’s historically racist Anti-Crime Unit.”

 

“The data is clear: bail reform has not contributed to any increase in crime; rather, it has helped address the crisis in our local jails and allowed New Yorkers to remain safely at home with their families and communities while they fight their cases,” they wrote. “The proposal to upend New York’s decades-old bail system by attempting to predict a person’s risk of future ‘dangerousness’ invites racial discrimination into our courtrooms and will lead to an  unprincipled and unwarranted increase in pretrial jail population, as it has done in several other states.”

 

HAPPENING NOW: @NYCMayor delivers remarks at City Hall on keeping New York City safe from gun violence. https://t.co/gaD4HOyLij

— NYC Mayor's Office (@NYCMayorsOffice) January 24, 2022

 

The public defenders said the proposal to amend the Raise the Age law to increase the number of adolescents prosecuted as adults was equally ill-advised. “The current law already allows for cases of gun possession to be retained in the adult court system; further rollbacks only risk undermining effective strategies for supporting young New Yorkers and addressing historical racial disparities,” they said. “The current system ensures that all teenagers except those charged with the most serious crimes are prosecuted in a system with age-appropriate services and residential options. COVID-19 brought massive disconnections from necessary services, death and economic upheaval for the young people of our City.”

 

The signatories said that this was precisely the wrong time to unnecessarily push more young people into the criminal courts, a system, they said, designed for adults. “New York spent decades laboring under the myth that children are adults with no evidence that the practice ever reduced crime rates,” they said. “We should not roll back the clock.”

 

The public defenders went on to say that reinstating the NYPD’s Anti-Crime Unit, without also addressing the culture and policies that drove the unit’s decades-long pattern of “harassment and violence targeting Black and brown New Yorkers” would be a mistake. “Today’s announcement gives the community members who live with the legacy of hyper-aggressive policing no comfort that Mayor Adams’s Anti-Crime Unit will be different from its predecessors,” they said.

 

“The Mayor must focus on addressing long standing problems with NYPD’s culture of impunity before he doubles down on strategies that will only perpetuate the harms of that culture,” they added. “We call on the Legislature to reject the Mayor’s wrongheaded proposals to rely on discredited punitive approaches and focus on investing in our communities.”

 

State Sen. Gustavo Rivera (S.D. 33), who joined the mayor at a roundtable discussion in the Bronx on Saturday, Jan. 22, in Bedford Park, also weighed in on the matter, saying, “The Mayor is right to lead our City into a new era where guns are kept off the streets and New Yorkers have real opportunities to forgo a life of crime and lead healthy, violence-free futures.” He added, “Unfortunately, his blueprint focuses on failed measures that run counter to that goal and will only result in another generation of Black and brown New Yorkers criminalized and relegated to a life of imprisonment, recidivism and continued violence.”

 

The senator said the mayor should stay focused on the community-building and anti-poverty efforts included in his blueprint, including robust support for violence interrupter programs, which, he said, had been proven to be an effective tool at addressing violence in communities. “We cannot repeat the mistakes of the past,” he added.

 

Meanwhile New York City Public Advocate Jumanne Williams has his own recommendations and published report on how to curb gun violence, which can be read here.

 

The mayor does have several supporters of his plan, including from others in the Bronx. “Families should not have to worry that their baby is going to get hit by a stray bullet, or that their daughter will be shot while working the night shift,” said District 11  City Councilman Eric Dinowitz, who represents the neighborhoods of Norwood, Kingsbridge, Riverdale, Van Cortlandt Village, Wakefield, and parts of Bedford Park. “The gun violence plaguing our city is causing irreparable devastation to New Yorkers, destroying families and tearing apart our communities. Mayor Adams’ ‘Blueprint to End Gun Violence’ outlines crucial steps in curing our city of this pervasive epidemic.”

 

He added, “As a teacher, I saw firsthand how important it is to invest in our school-aged youth with support systems and employment opportunities. Vital initiatives, like the Summer Youth Employment Program, keep our young people safe, and promote healthy social-emotional development that ultimately prevents senseless tragedies. I look forward to working with Mayor Adams on implementing important reforms and programs that uplift our community and our youth.”

 

“We’re in a public safety crisis, and our poorest, most disadvantaged New Yorkers are suffering the most,” said District 15 City Councilman Oswald Feliz, who represents the. neighborhoods of Fordham, Mount Hope, Bathgate, Belmont, East Tremont, West Farms, Van Nest, Allerton, Olinville and parts of Bedford Park. The latter includes the site of the aforementioned shooting of 11-year-old Baby Catherine, on Jan. 19.  “I look forward to working with Mayor Adams and Speaker Adams to resolve the issue of our time.”

 

Meanwhile, Dr. Hazel N. Dukes, president, NAACP New York State Conference, said, “Black and Brown communities are under siege from out-of-control gun violence.” She added, “There are way too many illegal guns on our streets, and not enough resources to combat this public health crisis and save our at-risk youth. Mayor Adams and his administration should be commended for taking decisive action that balances public safety and justice, intervention and prevention. The NAACP New York State Conference looks forward to partnering with our mayor on this important effort.”

 

Among the mayor’s other supporters are Devorah Halberstam, an anti-violence activist, who said, “I am ready to support our mayor in advocating for the common-sense proposals he has outlined, while continuing to work on the ground in the community to safeguard our young people, David Greenfield, CEO of the Met Council on Jewish Poverty, and Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York.