Tag: Pretrial Bail

Bail reform in New York in Creases Recidivism

  • Bail:
    • To protect the VICTIM and Society (Not considered in New York yet)
    • To make sure the offender appears in court
    • To make sure the offender does NOT re-offend

Recent Bail changes have hand cuffed police and judges from setting appropriate bail. Before the new bail changes Police were able to hold offenders (really for 1 or 2 days) until arraignment or post bail based upon the types of crimes the offender was arrested for. This was helpful especially when dealing with volatile situations (like neighbor disputes and domestic violence) where police could hold an offender overnight until arraignment by a judge. There are other situations when police arrest persons on warrant and that person used to be turned over to the municipality to answer the warrant and held to see a judge. This made the offender accountable to the criminal justice system. Now many more offenders are ignoring the fact that they have to attend court.

At arraignment “prior to the recent bail changes” a judge had the freedom to release the offender, hold the offender, or put bail on the offender. Now current legislation has curtailed the judges freedom to hold an offender or to set bail and it has become almost automatic for most crimes to release the offender. What has resulted is an augment that recidivism has increased as a result of the bail changes which has led to a decrease in public safety.

John Jay College has just released a report “Does New York’s Bail Reform Law Impact Recidivism?” that tends to disprove the premise that the NY bail reform changes have increased offender recidivism. However, if you’re on the ground in the criminal justice system there is an overwhelming sense that recidivism is one of a few significant outcomes that has resulted since the changes in bail reform. Another is increased disrespect by offenders to officers and probation.

The article “Straight Talk About Bail Reform” argues that bail reform has led to an increase in recidivism by offenders. The article has several links with data supporting it’s argument. One prominent link is to a New York Post article “Bail ‘Reform’ Increased Crime – and Misleading Studies Don’t Prove Otherwise” that makes an extensive analysis how New York’s bail reform increased recidivism and how the John Jay Report (listed above) erred with it’s analysis. The professors should look at the New York Post article and recalculate their finding and submit a correction

If you believe that the recent changes in bail reform are good please challenge these ideas to the “Straight Talk About Bail Reform” article and the New York Post article “Bail ‘Reform’ article. Another helpful article is “More Criminals, More Crime Measuring the Public Safety Impact of New York’s 2019 Bail Law”.

Also when considering Bail reform changes keep the following points in mind:

  • Resent changes were solely Offender based – None of the changes considered Victims
  • Offenders can miss court dates and warrants will NOT be issued for them, at least not until the court tries to call, text, and email the offender for several days
  • If a Victim or Witness misses a court date the case can be dismissed. REMEMBER who violated the law.
  • Under the old law when and offender was held by police the most the could be held would be 72 hrs (ex Friday to Monday) if there was no available judge on the weekend. The offender was usually arraigned the next morning.
  • Most station house bail was in the hundreds of dollars.
  • Holding an offender was a good decision for safety or they refuse to cooperate with their identity
  • Under the old law it was probably 30% Held/Bail and now less than 5% Held/Bail so it was always a small number of arrests held/bail

Podcast then Glenn Show: A discussion between Glenn Loury and Rafael Mangual about Mangual’s Book: “Criminal (In)Justice: What the Push for Decarceration and Depolicing Gets long and Who It Hurts Most”

If you haven’t read Rafael Mangual’s book it’s AWESOME!!  It’s an easy read pertinent to what is going on in policing and criminal justice. If you have never listen to the Glenn show before it is an awesome podcast.

This episode of the gun show highlights much of what is discussed in the book with Glenn Loury, playing devil’s advocate, and Rafael Manuel answering all his questions. I recommend listening to this podcast and then going out and getting the book. 

Glenn Loury (Manhattan Institute, Brown University) and Rafael Mangual (Manhattan Institute, Criminal (In)Justice: What the Push for Decarceration and Depolicing Gets long and Who It Hurts Most)
— Read on bloggingheads.tv/videos/65115

Rethinking Electronic Monitoring: A Harm Reduction Guide | American Civil Liberties Union

Electronic monitoring was supposed to replace cash bail. If this is a failure, what’s happening to the people that are supposed to be released and monitored? Maybe placing bail on people that are a threat to society or are going to commit more crime is a good thing. Especially seeing that other methods of controlling people as they are out awaiting trial is not working. 

Rethinking Electronic Monitoring: A Harm Reduction Guide, calls on jurisdictions to replace electronic monitoring with less restrictive and more effective measures, such as court reminders and transportation assistance. The report also outlines ways jurisdictions can mitigate the harms of monitoring in accordance with due process and fairness principles.
— Read on www.aclu.org/report/rethinking-electronic-monitoring-harm-reduction-guide

NYC Bail Trends Since 2019 : Office of the New York City Comptroller Brad Lander

Introduction The purpose of bail is to ensure that a person who is arrested returns to court for trial. However, in practice, the impact of bail has been to detain tens of thousands of New Yorkers, presumed innocent, before trial and cost low-income families tens of millions of dollars every…
— Read on comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/nyc-bail-trends-since-2019/

The Civil Rights Implications of Cash Bail

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights released the report, The Civil Rights Implications of Cash Bail which examines current approaches to reforming the pre-trial and bail systems in the U.S. criminal justice system. The report reveals that between 1970 and 2015, there was a 433% increase in the number of individuals who have been detained pre-trial, and pre-trial detainees represent a larger proportion of the total incarcerated population.

Among the report’s observations:

  • There were stark racial and gender disparities, with higher pre-trial detention rates and financial conditions of release imposed on Black and Latinx individuals, when compared with other demographic groups) and gender. Men are less likely than women to be granted non-financial release, for example, and face higher bail amounts.
  • More than 60% of defendants are detained pre-trial because they can’t afford to post bail.
  • The collateral consequences of pre-trial detention result in several negative consequences for detainees, including an increased likelihood of being convicted, an increased likelihood of housing insecurity, detrimental effects on employment, and an increased likelihood to engage in criminal conduct in the future.

“More than half-a-million unconvicted people sit in jails across the nation awaiting trial,” said Norma V. Cantú, Chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. “Presumption of innocence is the bedrock of our criminal justice system, with liberty the rule and pre-trial detention intended to be a ‘carefully limited exception,’”1 she observed. “Under the current bail system, it has become the norm.”

The Commission held a public virtual briefing on this subject in February 2021 to collect information from subject matter experts such as government officials, academics, legal experts, law enforcement officials, criminal justice advocates, and impacted persons. The Maryland, Oregon and Kentucky State Advisory Committees to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights also collected and provided testimony on related civil rights issues in their respective jurisdictions.

See report HERE

New York’s Latest Bail Law Changes Explained

Bail will be an option for more crimes, but the heart of the law remains intact.

New York’s new bail reform law had been in effect for a mere three months when the state legislature amended it in early April. The most significant change is that there are more situations where judges can impose cash bail. They will also have more discretion in setting bail and other conditions of pretrial release. The updates go into effect on July 1.  See  more HERE