Courts and Law Brooklyn Boro

Manhattan joins Brooklyn in pledge to end cash bail for misdemeanor cases

January 9, 2018 By Rob Abruzzese, Legal Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez (pictured) and Manhattan DA Cy Vance announced on Tuesday that new bail reforms have been put in place in the two boroughs where assistant DA’s will not ask for bail on most misdemeanor charges. Eagle file photo by Rob Abruzzese
Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez (pictured) and Manhattan DA Cy Vance announced on Tuesday that new bail reforms have been put in place in the two boroughs where assistant DA’s will not ask for bail on most misdemeanor charges. Eagle file photo by Rob Abruzzese
Share this:

Brooklyn and Manhattan district attorney’s offices announced on Tuesday that they will no longer seek cash bail in most misdemeanor and violation cases in an effort to reduce inequality and over incarceration in the criminal justice system.

The program has been underway in Brooklyn since April 2017, but the announcement marks a big change for Manhattan.

“As part of my commitment to making criminal justice fairer and more equitable in Brooklyn, I instructed our assistant district attorneys that our policy is to not ask for bail in most misdemeanor cases,” Gonzalez said. “Bail shouldn’t be requested when we don’t intend to seek jail time and must never be used as leverage to obtain a guilty plea.

Subscribe to our newsletters

“The goal is not to punish poor defendants accused of crimes, nor to disrupt lives, or interfere with jobs or education, but rather to make bail decisions that are fair and consistent with public safety,” Gonzalez continued.

Since Brooklyn has implemented this policy it has helped to contribute to lowering the number of inmates at Rikers Island. DA Gonzalez has said that it is important for ADAs to have discretion to be able to ask for bail in some cases.

As part of Tuesday’s announcement, Manhattan DA Cy Vance outlined the policy. He said that the presumption is that bail will not be requested in misdemeanor cases, but left open the possibility that they would in certain instances involving violence, domestic violence, sex crimes or crimes against law enforcement officers.

Also, defendants who have been convicted of past violent and other serious penalties, including those out on parole, probation or supervised release, will not get the benefit of this policy.

Manhattan based its policy off Brooklyn’s as Vance noted.

“I would like to thank Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez for his leadership and consultation in crafting our new guidelines, and Mayor Bill de Blasio and his Office of Criminal Justice for their continued collaboration to expand alternatives to incarceration and reduce our city’s jail population,” Vance said.

This is being done, as Eric Gonzalez has pledged to help lower the number people on Rikers Island by expanding supervised release programs in Brooklyn. He pledged during his recent campaign to make efforts to make the criminal justice system more equitable.

Bail reform in New York City has been an especially big topic since the death of Kalief Browder, a 22-year-old who killed himself after he spent three years in Rikers Island on misdemeanor charges that were eventually dropped. Browder’s family couldn’t afford the $900 it would have cost to get him released.

 


Leave a Comment

Related Articles

Leave a Comment