Fewer people are being rearrested while awaiting trial for their first alleged crime, according to data released by the Nassau County Police Department. This comes after state data last month showed that rearrests had fallen 5% in the second year of the new bail laws.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman announced the statistics while criticizing the state’s bail laws as creating a “crime wave” and an “atmosphere of lawlessness”.
Despite these claims, his figures only show 2.2% of those arrested in the first half of 2022 were rearrested after being released without bail. This means 97.8% of those arrested were not affected by New York’s bail laws.
Blakeman’s data isn’t verified by the courts. However, court data does show a noticeable increase in arraignments this year in Nassau. And even though very few of those appear to be related to bail, Blakeman said that’s the cause.
“Behind each statistic is a victim," Blakeman said. "Somebody who has had either damage to their property or something stolen from them or they've been physically threatened.”
Also, according to Blakeman’s data, the number of people rearrested after being released without bail dropped to about 8%, matching statewide trends.
