Jail or Bail? There’s a New Option

Supervised Release: A New Alternative to Jail or Bail

The article discusses "supervised release" as an alternative to bail for individuals who cannot afford it, allowing them to be released before trial under a form of parole.
This program aims to reduce the jail population on Rikers Island and potentially facilitate its closure.

Nafisha, a 25-year-old home health aide, was arrested after an argument with her cousin.
Given her previous record of failing to appear in court, she anticipated being held on bail.
Instead, she was offered pretrial supervised release, allowing her to remain with her infant daughter.
The charges against Nafisha were ultimately dismissed.

Since its implementation in 2016, over 11,000 people have participated in the supervised release program.
The mayor's office attributes 38% of the decline in Rikers Island's jail population to this program.
The goal is to reduce the inmate population to 5,000, enabling the closure of Rikers Island and relocation of detainees to smaller facilities.

Judge George A. Grasso, the supervising judge for arraignments citywide, advocates for supervised release.
His background as a former NYPD officer informs his perspective on the program.
He emphasizes that decisions should not be driven by fear but by justice.

Arraignment is a crucial stage where the judge decides whether to detain the defendant pretrial or release them on bail.
This decision significantly impacts the case's trajectory and the defendant's future.
Detention can pressure defendants to accept guilty pleas.
A 2018 study in the American Economic Review found that defendants held in jail before trial were approximately 10% more likely to plead guilty.

Kalief Browder, who was held on Rikers for three years for allegedly stealing a backpack, became a symbol of pretrial reform.
The charges were eventually dropped, but Browder struggled after his release and later committed suicide.
His family was awarded 3.3 \, \text{million} in a wrongful-death lawsuit.

New York City was among the first to demonstrate that most defendants released without bail return to court.
In 2017, New York City judges released 67% of defendants without bail, compared to other jurisdictions with fewer than half.

The supervised release program offers a third option between unconditional release and detention on bail.
Participants meet with case managers from independent nonprofits who assist with court appearances and connect them to social services.
Supervision duration varies, lasting from a few months for misdemeanors to over a year for felonies.

Eric Simmons, a social worker at Bronx Community Solutions, manages around 60 defendants.
He helped a client with a decades-long heroin addiction obtain identification, access drug treatment, and reconnect with his daughters.

The New York City program is based on evidence-based practices from other cities' pretrial supervision programs.
Unlike programs that use electronic ankle bracelets and mandatory drug testing, New York City's program does not incorporate these practices.
Case managers are social workers, emphasizing community connections over law enforcement.
Felony theft and drug possession are common charges among participants.
Those at lowest risk meet with a case manager monthly, while those at highest risk meet weekly, with weekly phone check-ins.
Judges receive updates on participants' compliance.
After initial rapid growth, the program has stabilized at around 400 new cases per month.
In the program’s first three years, 89% of defendants made all court appearances and only 8% were rearrested for a felony while in the program.

Some, like prosecutor James Quinn, believe the program poses a risk to public safety, citing that nearly 20% of those on supervised release are rearrested.
There are concerns that the program may be enrolling defendants who would have been released unconditionally otherwise.
Even the light touch of supervised release can inadvertently harm participants, creating risks due to increased contact with the criminal justice system.

The program does not currently accept those charged with violent felonies or domestic violence, which make up over half the pretrial jail population.
Some argue that excluding certain offenses reinforces the idea that those charged with violent crimes are less deserving of the presumption of innocence.

Judges may detain defendants out of fear due to the inherent uncertainty in predicting future behavior.
Reformers argue that there are also risks associated with keeping people in jail who do not belong there.

The city has begun allowing those 17 and under charged with certain violent felonies to participate in a youth track of supervised release.
Brooklyn has a pilot program for people as old as 19, and other boroughs may follow.
Some prosecutors and victims’ advocacy groups are open to supervised release for people charged with misdemeanor domestic violence.
In 2017, bail was set in nearly 6,000 misdemeanor domestic violence cases.

Dorchen Leidholdt of Sanctuary for Families acknowledges the harm of pretrial detention but emphasizes victim safety as paramount.
She suggests that intensive risk assessment could allow judges discretion in offering supervised release in domestic abuse cases.