Council Member Robert Holden (Twitter)
Dec 5, 2019 By Kristen Torres
Community officials in Queens are hosting a town hall meeting Monday to discuss sweeping criminal justice reforms set to go into effect in January.
Community Board 9 – which represents large swaths of Ozone Park and Richmond Hill along with Woodhaven and Kew Gardens – will host the meeting at Queens Borough Hall, located at 120-55 Queens Blvd. at 6:30 p.m.
It will be run by the Board’s Land Use and Public Safety committees alongside Queens Senior Executive Assistant District Attorney James Quinn and Council Member Robert Holden.
The meeting will discuss new policies that will eliminate cash bail for most misdemeanor and non-violent felonies and speed up trial times.
The reforms are part of the state’s 2019/2020 fiscal year budget, which also allots millions of dollars to legal services, gun violence outreach and other social services, according to city documents.
Council Member Holden has previously been critical of the state’s criminal justice and bail reform measures, most recently opposing Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to close Rikers Island for good. Holden currently sits on the council’s Committee on Criminal Justice.
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Bail t
Reform of bail you commit a crime you belong in jail