#BailWatch Update + Ways to Connect with CWNYC

CWNYC’s BailWatch campaign has continued this summer! Our courtwatchers have witnessed hundreds more arraignments in our yellow shirts, signaling to judges that New Yorkers are looking out for their neighbors and will not permit their rights to be trampled in the dark.

Some things our watchers witnessed this summer were:

• Judge Fong-Frederick in Brooklyn setting $55,000 of total bail one evening, on half of cases seen; including on a shoplifting case where the accused person was suffering from mental health and addiction problems.

• Judge McDonnell in Manhattan setting bail on two thirds of cases seen one day, including missing the law to claim that someone caused “harm to an identifiable person or property” by stealing coffee and a soda from Target.

• Judge Robinson in Brooklyn guaranteeing pretrial incarceration by setting bail at $10,000 each for two people: one who could only afford $3,000, and another who had no financial resources to pay.

If you would like to join us in watching these judges and others, the first step is to attend our next virtual Intro to CWNYC Training next Monday, September 30th, from 7:30-9PM. Sign up here!

We will also be tabling at the Abolition Block Party this Sunday 9/29 in Brower Park from 2-6PM if you’d like to come by and say hi in person!

In solidarity,

Court Watch NYC