New York state’s cash bail ban went into effect Jan. 1 of this year, marking a significant victory for criminal justice reformers while prompting concerns from many politicians, who cautioned against the ban due to safety concerns.

The law eliminates cash bail for certain misdemeanors and non-violent offenses and has been lauded by progressives as a necessary and effective effort to minimize injustice in the prison system.

Over-policing and incarceration of low-income citizens is still a consistent issue within the justice system. Conversely, many conservative politicians and law enforcement officials have expressed concern about the change, namely concerns that dangerous offenders will be given the opportunity to commit further offenses while awaiting trial or skip out on their court date altogether.

The policy has been highly criticized as soft on crime and potentially dangerous, giving people who have been accused of crimes the opportunity to re-offend before even being sentenced. Yet, the outrage and concern from politicians routinely ignore the reality that this policy merely replicates the pre-trial experience of wealthier Americans, and making it accessible to lower-income individuals.

There’s little evidence to suggest a cash bail system prevents crimes. The United States and the Philippines are the only countries that have such a system, and neither breaks the top 60 for safest countries in the world.

The wait between arrest and trial can be enormous, especially in court clogged districts, where citizens can spend months or years in prison waiting to be seen by a judge for infractions as minor as shoplifting or a traffic violation. Pre-trial detention doesn’t come cheap either, costing American tax-payers roughly 14 billion dollars annually.

“Cash bail is incredibly discriminatory. It basically means that poor people are held in pre-trial detention simply because they don’t have the money to bail themselves out,” said Gretchen Purser, a professor of sociology at Syracuse University. “Poor people who might have a hundred-dollar bail, however little it might be, may find themselves detained in jail for an indefinite period of time simply because they don’t have the money to get bailed out.”

Americans have always been able to take advantage of the cash bail system, which allowed many offenses to be brushed under, even violent ones, to exchange cash for freedom prior to trial.

“The way it’s set up right now is rich people, if they have a cash bail amount set, no matter how dangerous their crime might be, can bail themselves out if they’re given the option of bail,” said Purser.

The benefits of having wealth in the justice system are numerous. Public defenders are overworked and underpaid, meaning wealthy Americans often have access to superior legal counsel and defense, while low-income Americans may have as few as 15 minutes to meet with their representation before trial. Additionally, being held in pre-trial detention can have grave impacts on the personal life of the accused as well.

“Incarceration, no matter how short a period it occurs for, has detrimental impacts for people. Now, I’m not just talking psychologically but actually in terms of employment, in terms of their ability to be responsible caregivers to their family, in terms of housing.” said Purser.

Despite arguments against the bill, most of which cite safety as a primary concern — critics tend to ignore the reality that many people who had been accused of these crimes were already being given the option to walk free or skip out on their court date. The wealthy could always able to walk out of the holding cell the next morning, call their lawyer and begin piecing together a plan to proceed with their lives.

By banning cash bail, New York has taken a crucial step towards creating greater equity in the justice system. Banning cash bail spares individuals the economic and psychological harms of being incarcerated. It represents a key step towards creating a justice system in America that actually abides by the principle of innocent until proven guilty.

Sydney Gold is a freshman policy studies and public relations major. Her column appears bi-weekly. She can be reached at segold@syr.edu. She can be followed on Twitter @Sydney_Eden.

Published on January 15, 2020 at 10:02 pm