WATCH: Criminal Legal Reform in New York, Five Years In
By Carla Sinclair, Senior Communications Associate
In April 2024, the CUNY Institute for State & Local Governance partnered with the Data Collaborative for Justice at John Jay College for a two-part talk series, “Criminal Legal Reform in New York: Five Years In.” The talk series brought together researchers and on-the-ground stakeholders from across the criminal legal field—including advocates, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, and service providers—to reflect on New York’s sweeping changes to its criminal legal system, five years after the legislation has passed.
In April 2019, New York legislators passed sweeping bail, discovery, and appearance ticket reforms. Five years later, what have they achieved, what obstacles emerged, and what should State and local leaders do next?
Part 1 | Bail Reform in New York, Five Years Later: What’s Next
Implemented January 2020 and hailed as one of the most ambitious reforms in the country, New York’s hotly contested reforms eliminated bail and pretrial detention for most misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies, expanded pretrial services, and required courts to consider people’s ability to afford bail before setting it.
Researchers and practitioners discussed bail reform’s implementation, its impact on crime and recidivism, and next steps for a fairer and more equitable system of pretrial justice in New York.
"One of the benefits of releasing someone with conditions into programs—mental health treatment—is that you’re not only avoiding pretrial detention, but a lot of the times when the accused then use the good works that they’re doing, the changing of their lives, to get a favorable disposition.
We don’t just want defendants not to be detained while their case is pending. We want them to ultimately not be incarcerated when they resolve their case."
- Hon. Joseph Zayas, Chief Administrative Judge, New York State Unified Court System
Researchers: Jennifer Ferone, Deputy Research Director, CUNY ISLG; Jaeok Kim, Associate Director of Research, Vera Institute of Justice; and René Ropac, Senior Research Associate, Data Collaborative for Justice.
Panelists: Darren Mack, Co-Founder/Co-Director, Freedom Agenda; Agnieszka Mamczur-Fuller, Associate Director of Clinical Services I Queens Supervised Release Program, New York City Criminal Justice Agency; Hon. Joseph Zayas, Chief Administrative Judge, New York State Unified Court System. Moderated by Krystal Rodriguez, Policy Director, Data Collaborative for Justice.
[UPCOMING] Part 2 | Beyond Bail: How Reforms to Discovery & Appearance Tickets Impacted New York’s Criminal Legal System
New York’s groundbreaking criminal legal reforms made changes to more than just bail. The legislation overhauled how evidence is shared between prosecutors and defenders—known as discovery—and standardized when and how police should issue “desk appearance tickets,” which allow people to return to court on their own in lieu of pre-arraignment detention.
Panelists will shed light on these important but often-overlooked reforms, discussing research on their implementation, what is needed to better support practitioners (as well as increase accountability), and how to move forward to ensure these laws are meeting their goals.
“The amount of discovery that we’re getting, that has to be turned over, is tremendous. But the benefit in terms of the work that has to be done to ensure fairness clearly outweighs the money resources.”
- Yung-Mi Lee, Legal Director, Criminal Defense Practice, Brooklyn Defenders.
Researchers: Kate Jassin, Research Associate, CUNY Institute for State & Local Governance; and Olive Lu, Associate Director of Research, Data Collaborative for Justice.
Panelists: Yung-Mi Lee, Legal Director, Criminal Defense Practice, Brooklyn Defenders; Scott Levy, Chief Policy Counsel, FWD.us; Tarek Rahman, Counsel to the District Attorney, Westchester County District Attorney’s Office; and John Vespucci, Adjunct Assistant Professor, John Jay College and former police officer, Rockland and Orange counties. Moderated by Jennifer Ferone, Deputy Research Director, CUNY ISLG.
“I think most prosecutors agree that most of the changes are, in fact, good. We do want, of course, the defense to have the as much information as they can have as early on as possible.
But I do think that the legislation has shortcomings … the issues are more about time frames and it dovetails into … there is no funding.”
- Tarek Rahman, Counsel to the District Attorney, Westchester County District Attorney’s Office.
For more on the participants and related resources, see Data Collaborative for Justice’s event page.
Photo by Paula Vlodkowksy.