MAYVILLE — Officials on Friday called for the restoration of judicial discretion and the repeal of bail reforms, which they claim have led to an increase in violent crimes across New York state.

State Sen. George Borrello has sponsored legislation to repeal the reforms (S1802), add to the list of crimes that are eligible for bail (S3842) and make additional domestic violence offenses bail eligible to protect witnesses and victims of domestic violence (S2027).

State Assemblyman Andrew Goodell introduced legislation in the Assembly to restore judicial discretion in setting bail as companion legislation.

“One of the most important functions of government is to protect innocent people from being victimized by dangerous and violent criminals,” Goodell said. “Everyone has a fundamental right to be safe in their own home and in their community, without having their safety and security threatened by criminals who are intent on stealing property or willing to assault, rob, or kill others.”

District attorneys and law enforcement officials believe bail reforms has made their communities less safe.

“New York State needs to be smarter on crime,” Chautauqua County Sheriff James Quattrone said. “We need to allow our local magistrates to make an assessment of dangerousness and of a defendant’s threat to public safety when determining whether to incarcerate pre-trial.”

Cattaraugus County District Attorney Lori Rieman said the changes make it difficult to protect victims and witnesses.

“The criminal justice ‘reform’ legislation, which took effect on January 1, 2020, has disastrously limited our ability to protect victims and witnesses and hold offenders accountable,” Rieman said.

Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt urged the governor and legislators who support the bail reforms to listen to crime victims who have had to watch as their alleged assailants are released back into the community.

“These experiences are not few and far between; they now occur every single day across New York State,” he said. “We can fix this. All it takes are a few common sense changes to the existing laws to achieve a proper balance between ensuring the safety of our communities and fairness to the accused.”