By Leslie Acevedo
ALBANY, NY – Peter Mayer, a writer for FWD.us, notes New York’s bail reform law removing cash bail is showing policy success, arguing “the impacts measured in this report, of dollars saved by families, nights spent at home, and an overall shrinking of a jail system that loomed far too large in the lives of the very same New Yorkers who were already most disadvantaged and marginalized.”
Mayer adds two years following the enactment show: “24,000 fewer people had bail set on their cases, $104 million less was set in bail that could have otherwise been leveraged or lost by New York’s poor and working class families, 1.9 million nights that would have otherwise been spent in jail were spent at home, and the pretrial population in New York jails decreased by 15 percent to its lowest levels in decades.”
Mayer explains results of the bail reform law show “18,700 people avoiding the threat of bail and pretrial incarceration,” and notes these individuals are “given the ability to maintain their family lives, employment, leading to positive influences in the community, contrary to prior research.”
Mayer said the negative consequences as a result of cash bail are found to “negatively impact health, housing, and family cohesion by disrupting people’s lives and draining their resources.”
Money drained from communities impacts African American and Latino communities, Mayer added, pointing out as “49 percent of the people who had bail set in cases that would be affected by bail reform were Black and 23 percent were Hispanic, compared to the overall population of New York in 2021 which was 18 percent Black and 20 percent Hispanic or Latino,” adds Mayer.
Mayer writes cases affected by bail reform had an average bail of $4,267, per arraignment, more than the average New Yorker spends on rent, utilities, groceries. Mayer notes the financial difficulties of the family of an incarcerated person.
Mayer noted the money saved by people impacted by bail reform led them to maintain their lives, keep money in local economies, money spent on grocery stores, pharmacies, housing, which is beneficial to New York’s economy.
Prior to bail reform, people charged with offenses would spend about five months incarcerated, waiting for their hearing, adds Mayer, and incarcerated people waiting for their disposition on their cases can waste an individual’s employment and personal life.
Mayer said for the 24,400 people who avoided having bail set after bail reform, 79 days in jail converts to a total of “1.9 million additional nights spent out of jail across New York in the first two years of the reform.”
Time spent from not being incarcerated has benefits as it “provides for parents raising children, workers contributing to the economy, and people supporting their communities,” argues Mayer.
Mayer concludes, “The pretrial jail population in New York declined to its lowest in decades as courts across the state set bail less often and for fewer people,” and New York’s pretrial jail population decreased by 15 percent to its lowest levels in decades following bail reform.
Bail reform has helped New Yorkers to decrease pretrial jail population and save millions of dollars for their families, maintains Mayer, adding New York’s bail reform success should inspire celebration and protection of citizens’ well-being. 
