Photo Courtesy of Comptroller Stringer’s Office
The proposed legislation comes four months after Comptroller Stringer’s report on the growing role of commercial bail bonds in the City’s justice system.
By Forum Staff
Two elected officials who represent city communities in Albany have introduced legislation that would ban commercial bail in the five boroughs.
According to State Sen. Brian Benjamin (D-Manhattan) and Assemblyman Michael Blake (D-Bronx), the proposed measure would enact reforms called for by City Comptroller Scott Stringer in his January report, “The Public Cost of Private Bail: A Proposal to Ban Commercial Bail Bonds in NYC.” In the analysis, Stringer notes that the City now spends $100 million a year to lock up people who simply don’t have the means to make bail, including $10 million a year on those who ultimately post bail after short stays. Yet commercial bail bondsmen pocket $16 million to $27 million a year in nonrefundable fees, according to the report.
Additionally, Stringer’s office estimates that defendants detained because they are unable to pay bail lose a combined $28 million in wages annually.
“The private operators who profit off this backwards system should be put out of business – that’s how we begin to reverse decades of short-sighted criminal justice policies,” the comptroller said earlier this year.
According to Benjamin, Blake, and Stringer, law already on State books allows judges to set eight forms of bail other than commercial bail. Research shows that these alternative bail options are as effective in ensuring that defendants show up to court without imposing the burden of nonrefundable fees that are associated with commercial bail bonds, the officials said.
The legislation would also help reduce the number of people languishing in jail because they cannot afford bail, the pols added. That’s because obtaining release with a commercial bail bond often takes days while other forms of bail can be paid faster and are more likely to minimize, and possibly avoid, jail time. As a result, the proposal will help contribute to the City’s efforts to reduce the jail population and close the facilities on Rikers Island.
“It is not right that America should have different justice systems: one for those with money, and one for those without,” Benjamin said. “Bobby Kennedy pointed out 50 years ago that the only factor that determines whether you go to jail before trial is how much money you have. Little has changed, and the bail bond business exploits this fact. People should not be faced with the decision between paying off a predatory bail-bond business and going to jail. That is not the mark of a just society. Other states have already closed down the bail-bond business and reformed or removed cash bail; and not only has the world not come to an end, crime continues to fall. A brush with the law now means you can be locked up just long enough to destroy your life. We can put this to an end and we should.”
The Hon. Jonathan Lippman, former State chief judge and chairman of the Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform, hailed the Stringer report and proposed legislation.
“Put simply, it’s time we do away with cash bail, and abolishing the commercial bail bonds industry, which perpetuates this unjust and inhumane practice, is an important first step,” he added.
