Read More About NY Bail Reform

Abstract: The cash bail system exemplifies the intersection of economic inequality and the criminal justice system. Cash bail’s original intent was to ensure the defendant’s appearance in court. In practice, however, it has created a practice where one’s presumptive innocence is not determined by due process of the law, but rather by socioeconomic status. Cash bail has recently come under scrutiny again as a number of states across the U.S. have begun implementing cash bail reforms. This paper looks at the timeline of New York’s cash bail reforms and observes the swift and scathing conservative backlash as primarily rooted in fear-mongering and political expediency. Democratic leaders in New York have ceded the validity of the correlation between cash bail reform and increases in crime, despite the fact that other factors (like the COVID-19 pandemic) are far more likely to hold compelling correlative explanations. This paper concludes by warning against a repetition of the first- and second-waves of cash bail reform in the latter 20th century, which saw a similar attempt at creating a more racially and socioeconomically equitable criminal justice system, only to end with an even more regressive dependence on cash bail in light of backlash and tough-on-crime rhetoric.

Want to read more? Contact us to access the paper!