New Report Proposes Public-Safety Improvements to New York Bail Law

Additional reforms would protect public safety while addressing system’s inequities

NEW YORK, NY – In the aftermath of New York’s sweeping bail reform, public opinion has begun to turn, responding in part to stories of crimes committed by defendants released under the new guidelines. In a new Manhattan Institute issue brief, fellow and deputy director of legal policy Rafael Mangual evaluates the recent changes and proposes a set of recommendations that would maintain the spirit of the reforms while protecting public safety.

New York’s bail reform, which took effect on January 1, was intended to address reformers’ concerns about the inequities inherent in the old system’s heavy reliance on monetary conditions for pretrial release. The changes limit the scope of criminal cases in which judges can require money bail and impose nonmonetary conditions (such as electronic monitoring)—all while maintaining the prohibition on judicial consideration of public safety risks. This means that more defendants are released pretrial, leading to an uptick in crime, according to New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea, and reduced public support for the reform in recent polls.

In order to better balance public safety with reforming the inequities of the old system, Mangual proposes:

1. Empowering judges to assess the public safety risk posed by pretrial defendants, and setting out a process that allows them to detain dangerous or chronic offenders;
2. Allowing judges to revoke or amend release decisions in response to a pretrial defendant’s rearrest; and
3. In the intermediate term, setting aside additional or diverting existing funds to reduce the time a defendant stands to spend in jail if remanded to pretrial detention.

Click here to read the full report.