For Assemblymember Jordan Wright, pushing for a fairer criminal justice system is a family affair.
The 31-year-old first-term Democrat representing Harlem is sponsoring a bill that would require law enforcement officials to determine whether suspects will face criminal charges without seeing information that could indicate the suspects’ races.
Wright, whose father and grandfather were also elected officials, said it’s an important step to eliminating unconscious biases, or stereotyping.
“The Wright family has always been fighting for criminal justice reform, and I think this is just a next step in that,” he said.
Jordan Wright is the son of former Assemblymember Keith L.T. Wright, who represented Harlem from 1993 to 2016. During that time, he pushed legislation to grant the attorney general investigatory jurisdiction in instances of police misconduct.
Keith Wright also helped advocate for the repeal of mandatory-minimum sentences for drug crimes that were first enacted under Gov. Nelson Rockefeller. They were fully repealed in 2009.
Both Keith and Jordan Wright followed in the footsteps of Judge Bruce Wright. The judge, Jordan Wright’s grandfather, sat on the bench in the era of those harsh drug laws — and the peak of the crack epidemic — and was known for setting low bail for defendants, even those accused of shocking crimes.
The tabloids dubbed him “Turn ‘Em Loose, Bruce.” He pointed to the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on setting excessive bail, and said he was proud to push the issue.
“I believe, with almost religious zeal, that I must honor the admonition of the last will and testament of Frederick Douglass, which was to all Black people in this country: Agitate, agitate, agitate,” Bruce Wright said before his 2005 death. “I don't think that my right to agitate stops at the courthouse door.”
Jordan Wright would at times accompany his father to Albany, and got active in campaigns after college. In 2023, he managed the successful New York City Council run of Yusef Salaam — one of the “Central Park Five” who was falsely accused of attacking a jogger in 1989. Wright ran for the seat once represented by his father after Inez Dickens announced her retirement in 2024.
This is Jordan Wright’s first criminal justice bill, and it’s modeled off a California law that took effect in 2025. The legislation would require data that could indicate race — including skin descriptors and the names of witnesses and suspects — be redacted from prosecutors who make the initial decisions of whether to proceed with criminal charges. The legislation allows prosecutors the ability to make exceptions for hate crimes, homicides and certain other crimes.
Counties in California use computer software to accomplish the task. Advocates, including Wright, say it pushes prosecutors from being more harsh or lenient to people depending on their race or ethnicity. Because that information could be surmised from someone’s name, that information is also initially redacted.
Most legislative activity in Albany is now focused on the state budget. Wright introduced his bill in March. It was picked up in the state Senate by Bronx Democrat Jamaal Bailey, a veteran lawmaker who successfully sponsored a law to release police disciplinary records.
A spokesperson for the District Attorneys Association of New York State, which lobbies for prosecutors, said it hasn’t taken a position on the bill. No votes are currently scheduled.
Wright said he was always aware of the rule in the criminal justice system, but reading a book written by his grandfather called “Black Robes, White Justice” influenced his thinking.
“He talks about why Black folks don't get a fair shake,” Jordan Wright said. “I think it's important to be able to see that. Attack that. And I'm using my posture as a New York state assemblymember to really take the next step.”
