
A recent report has cast doubt on the efficacy of a New York law designed to make bail more affordable. According to the report, shared exclusively with Gothamist, judges rarely make the option of paying bail directly to the court the most affordable choice, despite being one of the methods required by law since 2020. The reality has been fees set by judges which often push defendants and their families to rely on bail bonding companies, with 78% of cases showing judges made commercial bonds the more affordable option between January 2020 and December 2023.
While the intent behind the legislative reforms was to aid families and individuals of lesser means, the report suggests judges may not have fully grasped the law or are refusing to align with its objectives. According to Alana Sivin of the Vera Institute of Justice, "It seems that if judges are setting bail in these really high amounts, that the intent, essentially, is to make it onerous and potentially to make it so that it's very unlikely that they'll be able to pay it," as told to Gothamist. The complexities involved in paying court bails directly, from high amounts to the need to present during regular working hours, are putting additional strain on individuals already burdened by the judicial process.
The inadequacies in bail reform have become a political punching bag in New York City's political theater. Mayor Eric Adams, gearing up for his reelection campaign, has criticized his predecessor, former Governor Andrew Cuomo, for the bail reform originally signed into law in 2019. "You're going to have to answer these questions," Adams said during a Politico interview when questioned on how he would take on Cuomo, hinting at Cuomo's possible return to politics and his involvement in the bail reform's inceptio, as reported by New York Post. Cuomo, while not currently in the race for mayor, has become a central figure in debates surrounding the effectiveness of criminal justice reforms.
Amid the political maneuvering, the impact of the bail law fractures run deeper than campaign rhetoric. Families continue to be pressed into difficult choices, as they sometimes have to empty savings to secure a loved one’s freedom. Arielle Reid, director of the Decarceration Project at the nonprofit Legal Aid Society, highlighted this struggle, stressing that direct payments to the court could at least allow them to "rest easy knowing that once the case is over, they'll get it all back," as she related to Gothamist. This juxtaposition of the law's intent against its real-world execution delineates a system falling short of its proclaimed ideals, leaving many to question whether reform in name has equated to reform in practice.
Meanwhile, Governor Kathy Hochul has boasted changes to bail laws she helped pass, which included a shift that judges are to now consider the potential for violent reoffending before granting bail. "I put in all kinds of criteria for a judge to have to consider, which basically amounts to dangerousness," Hochul told reporters according to New York Post. As the narrative on bail reform continues to unfold, New Yorkers remain caught in the tides of legislative expectations and judicial discretion.