Every New Yorker deserves to feel safe and protected. As a public defender, however, I have seen how our criminal justice system not only fails to advance public safety, but exacerbates the very root causes that drive people into the system in the first place. Incarceration has proven to be one of the least effective and most costly responses to crime. Study after study has shown that by reducing our reliance on incarceration and investing in our communities, we can advance public safety and justice at the same time. 

We need to rethink our approach to public safety and prioritize investments in data-driven responses to crime, such as community violence interruption, summer youth employment programs, alternative first-responder programs for mental health crises, and creating safe public spaces and social infrastructure. Moreover, we should not think of the national mental health crisis as a crime problem, but of crime as a public health crisis, requiring a holistic response that provides people with necessary supports and addresses root causes.

We must also continue the work of undoing the decades of harm of mass incarceration, Stop & Frisk, and the War on Drugs. Rikers Island, which has become New York’s largest mental health facility, is a moral stain on our city. I believe that we have a moral imperative to do better, to refuse to accept the status quo as inevitable.

As a leading advocate on the Justice Roadmap, a comprehensive vision for criminal justice reform in New York endorsed by almost 200 organizations across New York, I recognize the substantial work that still lies ahead. I will make criminal justice reform a top priority and be a champion for data-driven solutions, including:

• Earned Time Act

• Treatment Not Jails

• Second Look

• Ending Mandatory Minimums

• Full implementation of Clean Slate

• Protecting hard-won reforms such as bail reform and discovery reform

• Elder Parole and Fair & Timely Parole

• Support for FACT and ACT teams for people with serious mental health issues

We must not let our public safety policy be driven by sensational, politically motivated tabloid headlines, but must stay focused on what we know works: deep, sustained commitment to and investment in our communities and neighbors.