Bail Reform

We design and implement bail reform strategies to reduce the use of jail and increase the fairness of the justice system.

On any given day, people who haven’t been found guilty of any crime are detained across the U.S. because of an inability to post bail. This imposes enormous costs: for taxpayers, for detainees and their families, and for their communities.

The Center for Court Innovation works to promote bail reform in a number of ways. We operate supervised release programs that provide pretrial supervision and voluntary social services as an alternative to detention. We design and evaluate risk assessment tools and advocate for the careful and ethical expansion of their use to improve pretrial decision-making. We produce comprehensive recommendations for simplifying New York City’s bail payment process. And we provide research and strategic support to the Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform which put reducing pretrial detention at the center of its recommendations for safely reducing the city’s jail population and closing the Rikers Island jail facility.

For additional details on how bail is a financial burden for those with limited means, see our Fines and Fees resource page.

Initiatives

Bronx Community Solutions

Bronx Community Solutions applies a problem-solving approach to cases in the Bronx centralized criminal court, providing judges with community-based alternatives to jail and fines.
Brooklyn Justice Initiatives

Brooklyn Justice Initiatives seeks to improve how the centralized criminal court in Brooklyn responds to misdemeanor and felony cases.
MacArthur Foundation’s Safety and Justice Challenge

The MacArthur Foundation’s Safety and Justice Challenge seeks to reduce over-incarceration by changing the way America thinks about and uses jails.
Price of Justice Initiative

The Price of Justice Initiative helps jurisdictions address the disparate impact of fines and fees on defendants who cannot afford them.
Rethinking Rikers Island

By providing support to the Independent Commission on Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform, we're aiding in the effort to reduce New York City’s jail population and close Rikers Island.
Staten Island Justice Center

The Staten Island Justice Center seeks to reduce crime and incarceration by providing court-involved participants with supportive services and by engaging the community in prevention prog
Supervised Release

The Supervised Release Program reduces the number of people held in jail simply because they cannot afford bail.

Publications & Digital Media

Publication
Beyond the Algorithm: Pretrial Reform, Risk Assessment, and Racial Fairness

by Sarah Picard, Matt Watkins, Michael Rempel, and Ashmini G. Kerodal

Drawing on a case study of more than 175,000 defendants in New York City, this report concludes concerns over risk assessments perpetuating racial disparities in pretrial decisions are real. However, at least in the New York City example, it finds a more targeted use of risk assessments could both significantly reduce pretrial detention and alleviate racial disparities. But realizing that potential requires jurisdictions to think "beyond the algorithm"—what do they want to use a risk assessment for?

Addressing Racial Disparities, Bail Reform, Risk Assessment, Technology
Publication
New York’s Bail Reform Law: Major Components and Implications

by Michael Rempel and Krystal Rodriguez

In January 2020, New York State put into effect sweeping criminal justice legislation, strictly curtailing the use of cash bail and pretrial detention, overhauling rules governing the sharing of evidence, and strengthening measures to ensure a defendant's right to a speedy trial. Our analysis of the potential implications of the reforms to bail finds they can be expected to significantly reduce the use of incarceration in the state.

Bail Reform
Book
Start Here: A Road Map to Reducing Mass Incarceration

by Greg Berman and Julian Adler

Written by Greg Berman, director of the Center for Court Innovation, and Julian Adler, director of policy and research, Start Here from the New Press offers a road map of concrete actions to reduce the number of people sent to jail and prison, highlighting key lessons from successful programs across the country.

Bail Reform, Community Justice, Diversion, Procedural Justice, Reducing Violence, Risk Assessment

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News

Spock vs Kirk: The Battle Over NY Bail Reform

February 21, 2020
The Crime Report

Comparing it to the eternal debate between Spock and Captain Kirk on Star Trek, our director Greg Berman
writes about the public debate around New York’s bail reform law and how—and when—to judge the success of this new law.
New York Bail Reform's Effect on Crime

February 17, 2020
City & State New York

In an article looking at crime rates in New York City in the immediate aftermath of New York State's bail reform, our director of jail reform, Michael Rempel, points to the potentially crime-producing effects of pretrial detention itself, arguing that, in the long run, such detention can make the public less, not more, safe.
Supervised Release Program Expands as an Alternative to Jail, Bail, or Release

January 23, 2020
City and State New York

The scope of New York City’s supervised release program has broadened under the recently enacted bail reform law in New York. “We’ve been in a major hiring push in order to engage the kinds of social workers that we need to deal with this,” said Greg Berman, the outgoing head of the Center for Court Innovation, which runs supervised release programs in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Staten Island.

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