Understanding Protests to Repeal 50-A

Amid the vibrant signs at a recent protest in New York City – portraits of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, a thousand colorful iterations of “defund the police,” a Toni Morrison quote on a giant poster board – one man held up a more pedestrian one: It said simply, “Repeal 50-A.”

For those whose pulse is not immediately quickened by this demand, it may help to know that 50-A is the law that keeps police misconduct secret in New York (and that it has been condemned by, among other people, Rihanna).

Repealing 50-A is part of a platform for decarceration, or reducing the number of people confined by the criminal-legal system, that has been adopted by a slate of five socialist candidates running in Brooklyn and Queens. These working-class candidates, all endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), include Phara Souffrant Forrest, a nurse, and Jabari Brisport, a public school teacher. They committed to the DSA’s “Agenda for Decarceration” back in January.

As socialists, the document states, they believe that “people should not have to endure the violence and coercion of a criminal-legal system that props up the exploitation of the market by surveilling, caging and killing those fighting to survive under capitalism.” The platform includes support for existing legislation that would eliminate cash bail, decriminalize sex work, legalize marijuana and more. The candidates who have signed on are also committed to introducing legislation to, among other things, end mandatory minimums and police cooperation with ICE. Finally, they say they are committed to divesting money from the criminal justice system – for example, by opposing new jails – and fighting to reinvest that money in community programs and restorative justice.

In a sign of the changing political climate, these socialist candidates’ primary opponents have emphasized areas of agreement on criminal justice. But any reforms would have to overcome Governor Andrew Cuomo’s machinations. This year, he used the COVID crisis as cover to roll back bail reform. The DSA candidates have been attending New York’s protests against police brutality, suggesting that the protests could soon find legislative expression through a new slate of candidates. The protests are not merely sweeping away violence and corruption, but look poised to put something in its place.