American legislation allows bails in some cases that do not put society in danger. However, this system is often criticized for wealth bias and putting criminals back on the streets. Therefore, former New York state governor Andrew Cuomo proposed eliminating money bail in 2019, and the law became effective in January 2020 (Palumbo, 2020; Rahman, 2019). According to the new reform, judges can put a non-monetary restriction for non-violent felonies to ensure that a released person will return to court and set bail in case of violent crimes (Rahman, 2019). Still, the act requires considering the financial state of convicts when assigning bail and choosing minimally restrictive conditions, allowing people with low-income to omit payment (Rahman, 2019). Indeed, the New York bail law seems to be different from the previous attempts to limit this system by its particular emphasis on defendants’ ability to afford to pay bills, eliminating “cash bail for 90 percent of arrests” (Palumbo, 2020, p. 219). Nevertheless, the bail reform failed to justify governor Cuomo’s expectations because the number of felonies increased, suggesting to review a new bailing method for various crimes.
Former New York governor Cuomo hoped to attain crime reduction after implementing this law, but the outcome was the opposite. Initially, the idea was that mandatory appearance tickets would ensure the convicts’ return to court and prevent them from breaking the law a second time (Rahman, 2019). However, contrary to Cuomo’s expectations, the police department of New York reported a 10% rise in crimes after this reform was approved (Palumbo, 2020). Specifically, almost 900 crimes were committed by 500 convicts who were allowed to wait for their trials at home (Palumbo, 2020). Indeed, it put more lawbreakers on the streets, enabling the continuation of their criminal acts.
Although this reform applies to violent and some non-violent crimes, I think three crimes need to be removed from this law. In fact, non-violent felonies still require posting bail, but the payment amount can be reduced substantially based on an individual’s income. For instance, when a group of people stabbed an army veteran in 2018, they were charged with second-degree murder and bail of $700,000, but the new act allowed them to pay only $12,000 (Palumbo, 2020). Hence, the first crime that should be removed from this law is murder. Secondly, any form of sexual abuse of children need not be in this law. The third felony that should be eliminated from this act is human trafficking because it is almost equivalent to enslaving people, which violates fundamental human rights for freedom.
To conclude, former New York governor Cuomo’s bail reform, intended to eliminate wealth bias and reduce crimes, failed to fulfill its initial objectives. Many convicts were allowed not to post bail for non-violent felonies or pay less for violent ones and wait for their trials at home. Consequently, the number of criminal acts rose substantially after the law’s implementation. Thus, I cannot entirely agree with the state’s decision to approve this reform because it did not solve the original problem. Indeed, I believe that the government needs to focus on preventing crimes by improving education and social support for children and adolescents to stop them from becoming criminals. Still, since the legislation was approved, I would suggest removing three violent crimes from this law: sexual abuse of children, human trafficking, and murder.
References
Palumbo, M. (2020). Dumb and dumber: How Cuomo and De Blasio ruined New York. Post Hill Press.
Rahman, I. (2019). New York: Highlights of the 2019 bail reform law. Vera Institute of Justice. Web.