Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo plans to ask the New York State Legislature to eliminate cash bail for many crimes and to speed up the disclosure of evidence in trials as part of a package of proposals intended make the criminal justice system fairer for indigent defendants, his aides said.
hiladelphia officials have declared their intention to end cash bail in the city.
In a symbolic but nonetheless historic move, City Council members passed a resolution on Thursday calling on the District Attorneys office, state legislature, and the state Supreme Court to set a cash bail overhaul process in motion. Their hope is that the push will eventually ensure no one is kept in prison solely because they cant afford to pay bail.
The resolution is nonbinding meaning it wont bring about any immediate, direct changes. But its still a significant development, says Paul Heaton, academic director of the University of Pennsylvania Law Schools Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice, a research and policy hub created to improve the nations criminal justice system.
To have the voice of City Council saying this is something we want to happen will hopefully spur further action, Heaton said on Thursday.
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Some background: Judges can assign cash bail (sometimes called monetary bail or a secured bond) to defendants who have been accused but not yet found guilty of both violent and nonviolent crimes. Often people pay these amounts and are released but not always. About a quarter of the people in Philly jails are awaiting trial without detainers, meaning are behind bars solely because they havent paid bail. About 4 percent of inmates are awaiting trial on murder charges, while slightly under 22 percent are facing low-level charges. Pretrial defendants held on low cash bail have an average bail amount of $6,367, according a 2017 city controller report. Defendants must pay 10 percent of bail in order to be released so a person with a $6,367 bail would have to pay about $636.
Officials and advocates who oppose the cash bail system point to research showing that it discriminates against low-wealth communities and people of color who are held on low-level, nonviolent charges for things like prostitution, shoplifting, or drug-related offenses. Even short periods of pretrial detention correlate with a greater likelihood of defendants being sentenced to jail and recidivism, according to the Pretrial Justice Institute.
Usually when someone is charged with a serious crime, they have to put up cash or something else valuable to make sure they will stay out of trouble and show up for court, but one local judge has a different idea.
Endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, Mik Pappas ran for District Justice as a progressive peacemaker, aiming to make the court system fairer for minorities and the poor. ... Refusing to grant evictions, balking at signing arrest and search warrants, and steadfastly refusing to set cash bail for crime suspects he doesnt believe in it.
He even tweeted, In the past two weeks, Ive set bail in over a dozen cases. Not once have I imposed cash bail. Not once has this resulted in chaos, collision or calamity #endcashbail