PPG’s 2018 report Cruelty and Cost: Money Bail in Buffalo highlights the adverse impacts of setting money bail. It emphasizes there has been no connection found between an amount of money and a person’s likelihood of appearing in court of avoiding illegal activity while on release. It concludes money bail undermines our justice system.
 
Many of the report’s recommendations were included in sweeping bail reform laws passed in 2019 by the New York State legislature. Among other reforms, this legislation reduces the number of circumstances through which money bail could be set and instead prioritizes the issuance of appearance tickets.
 
While the shift toward reducing cash bail does not prohibit judges from setting cash bail in many high-risk circumstances such as when someone is accused of a violent crime, critics believe bail reform has led to an uptick in crime. This has resulted in many district attorneys, law enforcement officials, local and state leaders calling for bail reform rollbacks. Governor Kathy Hochul includes bail reform rollbacks in many components of her 10-point Public Safety Plan.
 
But, as PPG Policy Fellow and former public defender Miles Gresham shares in this week’s episode of The Public Good, calls for rollbacks are a product of misinformation, fear mongering, and a lack of understanding of what’s already in the law.
 
Miles demystifies bail reform and explains misconceptions about bail, how bail fuels mass incarceration, what existing power law enforcement officials, prosecutors, and judges already have under existing bail laws.
 
He goes over other proposed changes, including those to Raise the Age, discovery law reforms, the integration of  “dangerousness” by judges in arraignments and trials. He also discusses public safety and what communities need.