Shivering in the Albany cold on Thursday, dozens of law enforcement officers, prosecutors and anti-crime advocates urged state lawmakers to revisit New York's laws ending cash bail, overhauling discovery rules and raising the age of incarceration to 21.

Around the same time in the virutal world of Zoom, progressive Democratic lawmakers and advocates were calling for the approval of a package of measures they argued would make the justice system in New York more equitable, especially for people of color and immigrants. 

The dueling news conferences were a sign of how the heated debate over the direction of New York's criminal justice system will once again return in 2022 just as all state offices will be up for election. 

And it also comes after several years of gains by reformers, who have backed an end to cash bail requirements for many criminal charges, the legalization of cannabis and the closure of prisons across the state amid a declining population. 

But law enforcement organizations and anti-crime advocates, including the parents of children who have been murdered, believe the changes have gone too far in one direction. 

"The same courage we had to take on this very difficult topic, we need to have that same courage to recognize that there's opportunity for improvements and come back to the table and make the appropriate adjustments," said Syracuse Police Chief Kenton Buckner. 

The cash bail laws in New York have been at the center of the debate as police and prosecutors call for judges to have greater latitude in keeping a defendant in custody if they are deemed a danger to the community.

Advocates in favor of cashless bail have argued the measures level the criminal justice field, which was tilted against poorer defendants who could not afford the money to be released from local jails, and granting more power to judges perpetuates a discriminatory system.  

Law enforcement groups have blamed the bail laws on the sharp rise in violent crime in recent months though research has not proven that conclusively. A review from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services is being conducted on the issue. 

New Yorkers United for Justice Executive Director Alexander Horwitz called the linkage an outright lie from cashless bail opponents. Horwitz wants policy to focus on transitioning people who were incarcerated back into the community. Fighting cashless bail laws, he argues, makes New York less safe. 

"They keep New Yorkers safer because they relieve pressure on the criminal justice system and they make peoples' lives more continuous during that pre-trial period," Horwitz said. "All those things make the system fairer. You make the system fairer, you make our state safer. Again, we have the data to prove it." 

But law enforcement officials like Albany County District Attorney David Soares believe changes to grant judges more power are needed — and that advocates on the other side of the issue are out of touch with the needs of communities to be safe.

"The people who continue to support moving farther with these reforms may share in the virture, but trust me when I say they do not share in the burden," he said. 

Still, some Democrats in the state Legislature will push for further changes. Advocates on Thursday unveiled the Justice Roadmap 2022 that contains proposals to reduce the number of people in jails, prisons and immigrant detention centers. 

One of the measures under consideration, but stalled last year, would expunge criminal records of more than 2 million people. 

"We know for too many this conviction history is a continual life sentence," said Assemblymember Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas. "It's living in a state of perpetual punishment."