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.

Initiatives

  • Bronx Community Solutions

    Bronx Community Solutions applies a problem-solving approach to non-violent cases in the Bronx, providing judges with alternatives to jail and fines.

  • Brooklyn Justice Initiatives

    Brooklyn Justice Initiatives seeks to improve how the centralized criminal court in Brooklyn handles misdemeanor and non-violent felony cases.

  • 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 engaging the community in prevention program

  • Supervised Release

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

Publications & Digital Media

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News

  • Supervised Release Finalist for Innovations Award

    July 27, 2018
    Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice

    New York City's supervised release program is a nominee for the prestigious Innovations in American Government Award from Harvard University's Ash Center. As part of the initiative overseen by the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, we provide supervised release in three of New York City's five boroughs to thousands of defendants every year, helping them avoid incarceration simply because they cannot afford bail.

  • Our cash bail system isn’t working. We can fix it.

    November 28, 2017
    Washington Post

    Citing our research, former New York Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman makes a case for the increased use of pretrial risk assessments while also emphasizing the importance of transparency and responding to criticisms of the tools.

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We work with reformers around the world.

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