Jail or Bail? There’s a New Option

Flashcards covering the key vocabulary and concepts from the article.

Supervised release

A program that allows judges to release those who cannot afford bail before trial on a kind of parole.

Rikers Island

The notoriously brutal jail complex that the mayor wants to shutter.

Judge George A. Grasso

The supervising judge for arraignments citywide.

The judge at an arraignment

Decides how to ensure that the defendant reappears in court, possibly by detaining them pretrial or releasing them on condition of paying bail.

2018 study in the American Economic Review

Defendants whose circumstances were otherwise alike were about 10 percent more likely to plead guilty if they had been held in jail before trial.

Kalief Browder

Held on Rikers for three years for allegedly swiping a backpack, all the while maintaining his innocence, before prosecutors ultimately dropped the charges for lack of evidence.

Supervised release programs

Require defendants to meet regularly with case managers employed by independent nonprofits, who assist them in making future court appearances and offer to connect them with social services.

Social worker role in supervised release (Eric Simmons)

Typically manages a caseload of about 60 defendants, connecting them with services and assisting with court appearances.

Mayor's office report on supervised release outcomes

89 percent of defendants made all court appearances; only 8 percent were rearrested for a felony while participating in the program.

James Quinn's concern about supervised release

Maintains that the risk to public safety posed by many of the people who secure release through the program is not being given sufficient consideration.

Scott Levy's view on excluding violent felonies from supervised release

Excluding certain statutes hampers real reform because it reinforces the notion that people charged with violent offenses are somehow less deserving of the presumption of innocence than other people.