Chief judge backs bail reform alteration as momentum for change grows
/
Chief Judge Janet DiFiore proposed changing the state’s bail law to allow judges to send defendants to jail if they determine they are dangerous. AP Photo/Hans Pennink
By David Brand
Chief Judge Janet DiFiore on Wednesday proposed a change to the state’s new bail law that would give judges the discretion to send defendants to jail.
DiFiore said hailed the intent of the current law, which eliminates cash bail on misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies, but called on the state legislature should amend the measure during her annual address on the state of New York’s court system in Albany.
“Cash bail has proven to be inherently discriminatory for people of limited means, and it has been revealed that black, brown and poor people have been disproportionately harmed by a bail system that routinely kept them in jail simply because they could not afford to pay their way out,” DiFiore said.
“I believe that without compromising the purity of its purpose, the new legislation can be amended, and strengthened, to recognize a narrow exception allowing judges, after a full and fair adversarial hearing, to detain a defendant in those few and extraordinary cases where such a credible threat exists,” she continued.
DiFiore is the latest New York leader to propose amending the bail law to allow judges to remand defendants. Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said the state senate would consider revising the law to eliminate cash bail while giving judges discretion earlier this month.
"We believe that this gets to the heart of the issues and that it is still progressive," Stewart-Cousins told Newsday on Feb. 12.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said that he wants to address bail reform in the state budget, due April 1. The current law passed as part of last year’s budget.
Seven local district attorneys, including Queens DA Melinda Katz and top prosecutors from New York City’s four other boroughs, wrote an op-ed for the New York Times calling for changes to the bail law on Feb. 25.
“Cash bail should be eliminated for all offenses, with judges given the discretion to detain the small number of individuals whose behavior poses a threat to public safety or who have demonstrated that they are unwilling to show up in court in serious cases,” the prosecutors wrote.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has also said he supports judicial discretion, as do several judges in New York City.
“It is my opinion that without significant changes, the current legislation will not only be a missed opportunity for long overdue criminal justice reform but also a significant threat to public safety,” said Bronx Criminal Court Supervising Judge George Grasso at a forum hosted by the Eagle on Feb. 6.
Members of the state Assembly, including Speaker Carl Heastie, have pushed back against the proposed change, however.
Bail is set to ensure defendants have financial incentive to return to court, but the system in place for decades in New York state led to low-income defendants — particularly people of color — being held in pretrial detention at a far higher rate than wealthier defendants who could afford to pay for their release.
Assemblymember Alicia Hyndman of Southeast Queens said she opposes judicial discretion because judges are susceptible to the same racial and income biases that drive systemic inequities.
“If our society was truly, ideally what we wanted it to be — judges not judging people based on their economic circumstances or their skin color — I would be for that, but that’s not the case,” Hyndman said. “You’re talking about Upstate New York, Long Island … Communities where judges do not reflect the majority of the community and that’s a problem.”
