New York City’s Bail Success Story :: The Marshall Project

New York City’s Bail Success Story
The Marshall Project By ELI HAGER
March 14, 2019

Judges have drastically cut back on bail and jail in criminal cases, a new study shows. And defendants are still showing up in court.

Like many states, New York has a bail law that is half a century old. The legal rules that in 2010 made it possible for 16-year-old Kalief Browder to be jailed on Rikers Island for three years for allegedly stealing a backpack—just because his family couldn’t pay $3,000 in bail to get him out—all remain on the books.

Criminal justice reformers around the country are admonishing the Empire State to change its system, arguing that having to pay money to get out of jail unfairly targets the poor. And a newly elected Democratic majority in Albany is eager to heed those calls, as lawmakers this month pore over the final details of a bill that would make New York the third state to virtually abolish money bail.

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