A wave of arrests in the New York City protests over the death of George Floyd has strained the criminal justice system and ignited a debate over whether bail reforms have allowed smash-and-grab looters to get off easy. The backlog prompted The Legal Aid Society to file a lawsuit earlier this week demanding that the New York Police Department release people held in violation of a requirement to get them in front of a judge within 24 hours — a situation that one defense lawyer said “appears to be designed to retaliate against New Yorkers protesting police brutality.”
