In January 2020, New York State put into effect sweeping criminal justice legislation, strictly curtailing the use of cash bail and pretrial detention, overhauling rules governing the sharing of evidence, and strengthening measures to ensure a defendant's right to a speedy trial. Our analysis of the potential implications of the reforms to bail finds they can be expected to significantly reduce the use of incarceration in the state. (See here for our updated analysis of the April 2020 amendments to the legislation.)
Like a number of cities across the U.S., New York City is in the midst of a remarkable, often contentious, debate about the future and purpose of its jails. New Thinking host Matt Watkins recently moderated a public discussion of the city’s pledge to replace its notorious Rikers Island jail complex with a series of smaller, modern facilities—located near courthouses, not on an isolated island. It's a shift the mayor says will end the era of mass incarceration in the city.
In January 2016, jail reduction and victim advocates discussed strategies for including the voices of survivors of crime in implementing pretrial supervised release programs. This document highlights the far-reaching and complicated discussion.
This report presents findings from a study examining the impact of the Brooklyn Supervised Release Program, which engages misdemeanants who cannot afford relatively low bail amounts.
New York State Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks responds to the question: How does the supervised release program at Brooklyn Justice Initiatives fit into the court system's bail reform efforts?
