CJA
Research Brief No. 30
NEW YORK CITY CRIMINAL JUSTICE AGENCY, Inc.
September 2012
A series of reports summarizing current research from CJA Executive Director, Jerome E. McElroy Director, Research Dept., Richard R. Peterson, Ph.D. Research Brief Editor & Deputy Director, Research, Mary T. Phillips, Ph.D. Graphics & Production, Raymond P. Caligiure Administrative Associate, Annie Su
CJA is a not-for-profit corporation that provides a variety of criminal justice services under a contract with the City of New York. CJA staff interview defendants arrested in New York City, make recommendations for pretrial release, and notify released defendants of upcoming court dates. Within the Agency, the Research Department conducts studies covering a broad array of criminal justice policy concerns. The Research Brief series summarizes the results of some of these studies. New York City Criminal Justice Agency, Inc. 52 Duane Street New York, NY 10007 PHONE: 646 213-2500 FAX: 646 213-2650 WEB: www.nycja.org © 2012 NYC Criminal Justice Agency, Inc.
New York City’s Bail System — A World Apart By Mary T. Phillips, Ph.D. The National Symposium On Pretrial Justice held in Washington, DC, last year drew attention to deep flaws in pretrial release decision making in this country. At the same time, it highlighted some striking differences among jurisdictions in the ways in which release decisions are made and the legal frameworks within which various state courts operate. Symposium participants reached a consensus on many features that the nation’s pretrial justice systems should have, and they were enumerated in a set of published recommendatrions — all of which have long been endorsed by the American Bar Association (ABA). New York City already has some of the recommended features, setting the state and City apart from the many jurisdictions across the country that do not. However, New York lacks other recommended features that are in place widely elsewhere. In this Brief we review some differences between New York City’s
pretrial justice system and the rest of the country. We begin with a state-by-state comparison of key provisions of the laws governing bail and release decisions. Next, we examine pretrial release outcomes, comparing New York City to other large U.S. cities. Sharp contrasts were found in release rates, types of pretrial release, and bail amounts. We also consider whether these differences in release practices have implications for pretrial misconduct. We conclude with a review of the National Symposium recommendations, pointing out the changes that would be required in order to bring New York City into compliance. Although New York already does well on some measures, full compliance would require statewide legislative action as well as local initiatives. The full report from which this Brief is excerpted also summarizes a decade of bail research on many other topics affecting bail, release, and detention in New York City.
This Research Brief is adapted from A Decade of Bail Research in New York City (2012) by Mary T. Phillips, Ph.D., Deputy Director, Research Department The full report is available on CJA’s web site: www.nycja.org/research/research.htm Research Assistance: Raymond P. Caligiure, Miles H. Riemer-Peltz Systems Programming: Wayne Nehwadowich Address comments to the author at mphillips@nycja.org Please cite as follows, adapted to your citation style: Phillips, Mary T. 2012. “New York City’s Bail System — A World Apart” Research Brief series, no. 30. New York: New York City Criminal Justice Agency, Inc.