The devastating cost of cashless bail

The President taking such decisive action to save lives this past week is bittersweet beyond words. For years, we begged and pleaded for help to stop the insanity that has spilled blood across our streets. We went to the media. We testified before Congress. We sat across from lawmakers, poured out our stories and prayed someone would care enough to act. But time and time again, our cries fell on deaf ears.

Now, finally, something is being done.

For those who have never stood in our shoes, it’s hard to explain what it feels like to bury someone you loved unnecessarily – to hold a folded flag or a photo instead of a spouse, child, sibling, or parent. We as victims went through the worst nightmare imaginable. And while we were trying to pick up the shattered pieces of our lives, politicians were busy patting themselves on the back for “social justice” reforms that only created more victims.

We watched New York Democrats ram through bail reform, stripping judges of discretion and unleashing chaos. We watched elected officials like Kathy Hochul stand proudly on a stage and thank the families of killers as she signed legislation written by them – with no mention of the victims whose blood had been spilled, no acknowledgment of the grief their families will carry for the rest of their lives. Imagine the cruelty of that moment: to glorify those who destroyed lives, while erasing the memory of the ones they destroyed.

Meanwhile, millions of taxpayer dollars have flowed into programs designed to support criminals – housing them, feeding them, offering them endless “second chances.” And what about us? The victims? We struggle day to day, financially and emotionally, often with no resources, no lifeline, no recognition. Families are left with empty chairs at the dinner table, mounting bills for funerals and therapy, and the haunting trauma that never goes away.

This is the bitter reality we have lived with.

And now, finally, there seems to be a light at the end of this dark, cold tunnel. President Trump’s executive order is a long-overdue acknowledgment that public safety must come first.

For years, those in power denied there was even a problem. They told us crime was “down” while body bags piled up. They dismissed our stories as “anecdotes,” as if our dead loved ones were just numbers on a page. But we know the truth. Somewhere around 700 lives have been lost in New York alone because of bail reform. That’s 700 families destroyed, 700 names added to a list that never should have existed in the first place. And that’s only counting bail reform. When you add parole reform, when you add the revolving door for so-called “youthful offenders,” the number climbs even higher. Every one of those lives mattered. Every one of them had dreams, families, futures stolen in the name of “equity.”

So yes, this moment is hopeful. But it is also painful. Because it never had to be this way.

Imagine if leaders had listened when we first raised alarms. Imagine if victims’ voices carried the same weight as those of criminal justice activists funded by billionaires. Imagine if the grief of a mother burying her child mattered as much as the rehabilitation of the person who pulled the trigger. How many lives would have been saved?

This executive order cannot bring back our loved ones. It cannot erase the trauma or fill the empty seats at holidays. But it can – and must – be the beginning of a long-overdue course correction. The vague language some critics point to could actually be its greatest strength, because it allows broad discretion to cut off taxpayer funding for any jurisdiction that uses it to release repeat offenders. Washington, D.C., for example, spent $88 million last year on programs that funneled offenders back onto the streets. That money should never have been spent on those who hurt our communities.

Let’s be clear: this is not about vengeance. This is about prevention. This is about making sure no more families have to endure the pain we live with every single day. Recidivism is the heart of the problem in New York and everywhere these programs have been implemented – offenders being released over and over until someone gets killed. If this executive order helps break that cycle, then it is a step in the right direction.

But let us never forget: every step forward comes too late for those we’ve already buried. Crime Victims are the only unwilling participants in the criminal justice system-everyone else chose their role, from Judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, law enforcement and of course the offender.

Yet nobody said pick me-pick me, I want to be a crime victim.

So it’s the least our system can do is to offer a semblance of fairness and balance to the only unwilling participants: Victims of Crime.

The victims are not here to thank the President, as grateful as our families are. They are not here to testify. They are not here to share their story. All we have are their names, their memories, and the responsibility to make sure their deaths were not in vain.

This is the bittersweet truth: we are finally being heard, but only after far too much blood has been spilled.