Speaker Heastie Statement on Criminal Justice Reforms

Last year the Legislature and Governor stood shoulder to shoulder to hail the passage of legislation to reform our deeply flawed, class-based criminal justice system. This law has only been in effect for six weeks. I want to underscore what I have said before — we care deeply about victims and we want to work with law enforcement and district attorneys to ensure the safety of our communities. As with all new laws, we need to monitor its implementation. We need to differentiate fact from fiction and not rely on sensationalism and cherry-picked stories. We must use facts and data to determine how the law is working. Finally, we must be careful not to rush to make changes that could cause more people to be incarcerated before their trial and before they have been convicted of a crime.