Vera Institute of Justice 203d ago

New York’s pretrial reform has gone through a tumultuous adjustment period since the reform passed. Fueled by strong opposition from law enforcement groups, coordinated political campaigns, and public concerns about violent crime (exacerbated by fearmongering in the media), Governor Andrew Cuomo and his successor Governor Kathy Hochul amended the original bill three times—in April 2020, April 2022, and May 2023—expanding the list of charges and circumstances in which judges can set bail and limiting the scope of the reform in other ways. These consecutive amendments to the laws have made it difficult to measure the effect of bail reform on the outcomes of interest, such as the number of people in pretrial detention and racial disparities in incarceration. Further, the COVID-19 pandemic led to court closures that seriously disrupted the normal flow of the criminal legal system. This upheaval took place only three months after bail reform went into effect, making it very challenging to isolate the impacts of the reform. However, the difficulties in disentangling the effects of bail reform, its rollbacks, and the pandemic make a comprehensive analysis of jail population trends more essential than ever. #incarcerationrates #endmassincarceration #racialdisparities Get the facts and learn more at vera.org https://vera-institute.files.svdcdn.com/production/downloads/publications/New-York-State-jail-population-brief-2019-to-2022_2024-06-21-143855_xtbu.pdf For more information visit: https://www.vera.org https://www.facebook.com/verainstitute https://twitter.com/verainstitute