State Assemblyman Ed Ra (R-Franklin Square), running for his seventh term in the 19th Assembly District, said there should be greater nuance when it comes to giving judges more discretion in the bail reform discussion.

Ra, 40, is vying to keep his seat against Democratic challenger Sanjeev Jindal, of Williston Park.

The 19th Assembly District stretches into all three Nassau County townships. It includes Franklin Square, Garden City South, Garden City Park, New Hyde Park, Westbury, Carle Place, Mineola, Williston Park, Old Westbury, Brookville, Old Brookville, Upper Brookville and Glen Head.

“I think the idea of bail reform and its impact has almost become a catch-all for a much broader set of policies and in the way people look at it,” Ra said in an interview with Blank Slate Media.

Ra described recent policies that were enacted by the state Legislature he said have contributed to an increase in crime.

New York implemented bail reform laws in January 2020, with modifications passed in April of that same year. State officials said the modified laws eliminated pretrial detention and optional cash bail in an estimated 90 percent of cases.

In March, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the “Less is More” Act to improve justice and safety in city jails while ensuring the Department of Corrections puts resources toward people successfully completing community supervision.

In 2018, state legislation was passed that raised the age of criminal responsibility to 18 years, removing New York as one of only two states that automatically prosecuted 16 and 17-year-olds as adults.

“I do think the totality of what has recently come from the state level from a policy standpoint has contributed to an increase in crime,” Ra said.

Nassau County is on pace to record more than 7,000 major crimes this year, roughly a 34% increase over the 5,230 major crimes reported throughout the county in 2021, according to statistics from the Nassau County Police Department.

“I think we can do better on a policy level on cutting back on crime,” Ra said.

Ra added that he thinks it makes sense to make the criminal justice system fairer not everyone accused of committing a crime should be held in jail where they can potentially lose their job and housing.

“I think with each of these policies that I mentioned, we’ve taken it to the extreme,  that it becomes a one-size-fits-all and it takes away a lot of the nuance that has to be there to address each individual case.”

The assemblyman believes true judicial discretion in handling cases can help solve crime issues, a topic he said has been much more at the forefront this year compared to previous elections.

In August, new concealed carry laws were passed in New York state that included firearm training, an in-person interview and a social media review for individuals seeking to obtain a concealed carry pistol permit.

Ra said he did not support the legislation because “it did not go along with what we were instructed to do in that Supreme Court decision.”

In New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen, the Supreme Court of the United States reversed a state law requiring applicants for unrestricted conceal-carry licenses to demonstrate a special need for self-defense, saying it violated the Fourteenth Amendment.

“It remained very much in the eyes of the person evaluating the application, which they told us we couldn’t do,” Ra said. “There were good ideas in there, I have no problem with requiring training and certain locations being off-limits for carrying but some of that went too far.”

Ra was also critical of Hochul in the lead-up to the legislation because of how little time the public and legislators had to take a look at the concealed-carry bill and evaluate issues.

On the Reproductive Health Act, Ra said he did not support it and that it did far more than codify Roe v. Wade.

In New York, an abortion can be given up to and including 24 weeks of pregnancy. After 24 weeks, an abortion can still be performed if the pregnancy or health of the mother is at risk.

“It moved the 20 weeks to 24 weeks in New York state and eliminated a whole host of protections,” Ra said. “It made wide-ranging exceptions in terms of the health of the mother without any definition of it and that has by the courts in the past been interpreted very broadly.”

Ra went on to say the act eliminated any mention of the unborn in the New York state penal law, specifying that before the Reproductive Health Act if someone were to attack a pregnant woman and cause the death of an unborn child, they can be charged with homicide of that unborn child.

“I think that having a better definition of the health of the mother would be a positive thing,” Ra said. “I’m not saying we should come out with a list but I think having some parameters for it might be helpful to individuals.”

Since 2010 Ra, a Mineola native, has served as the representative for District 19.

In the Assembly, Ra is the ranking minority member of the Ways and Means Committee. Before being elected, Ra served as deputy town attorney for the Town of Hempstead and as a legal aide in the Office of the New York State attorney general.

The assemblyman says that during his time in office he has been very active in communities hearing his constituent’s concerns.

“My priorities will continue to be working on affordability, continuing to work on transparency and ethics in state government and certainly dealing with crime,” Ra said. “There has been a whole host of issues that I think have swung the pendulum too far in one direction. I think we can work to make a fairer criminal justice system without jeopardizing public safety. I’ve had the tremendous privilege of moving up through the ranks in the Legislature, serving now as the ranking member on the Ways and Means Committee and developing relationships across the Island in both houses and I think I’m the best person to continue to represent this district in January”

Blank Slate Media’s interview with Ed Ra can be found on YouTube.