Capstones
Graduation Date
Fall 12-16-2022
Grading Professor
Susan Farkas
Subject Concentration
Arts & Culture
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Abstract
Should freedom have a cost? Bail is an amount of money judges order defendants to pay in order to await trial out of jail. The bail system was designed to ensure that defendants would return to court to face their charges. However, criminal justice advocates argued that bail became a form of pretrial punishment as defendants, mostly black and brown people, are ordered to pay high bail costs without being convicted of any crimes. This led to New York legislators taking action in creating a new bail reform law in 2019 which eliminated cash bail for most misdemeanors and some non-violent felonies. While bail reform has its supporters, controversy soon arrived with politicians accusing this new law of causing an uptick in crime in New York. Did recent reforms advance social justice or add to a rising crime rate?
Recommended Citation
Joseph, Anslem Michael, "West 219 Show: Bail Reform" (2022). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gj_etds/611