New York, New York

The People vs. Money Bail 

Activists recently forced both Manhattan and Brooklyn prosecutors, Cyrus Vance and Eric Gonzalez, to announce in January, 2018 that they would be ending the use of money bail for most misdemeanors, including jumping subway turnstile and minor drug possession. Taking their talking points from longtime activists on the issue, they acknowledged that money bail has largely harmed low income people of color and led them to languish in prison at Rikers Island for no just reason. 

Ending money bail for misdemeanor arrests represents a powerful first step to ending the unjust and destructive impact of money bail on thousands of Black and Brown New Yorkers routinely targeted by the criminal justice system, including its police and prosecutors. Money bail leads to unwarranted and unnecessary jail time, which itself can lead to physical violence, the loss of a job and the absence from the lives of family members who depend on those locked up just because they don’t have the money for bail. 

Color Of Change joined activists across New York, including the Drug Policy Alliance, VOCAL-NY and 5 Boro Defenders, to demand an end to misdemeanor prosecutions that result in vast numbers of people of color landing in jail because of money bail. The coalition has also delivered thousands of petitions to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, to ensure that the positive changes happening in New York City are codified into law across the state. 

The recent success follows an earlier one: the decision by Manhattan’s top prosecutor Cyrus Vance in 2017 to stop prosecuting roughly 20,000 misdemeanor cases per year that have sent thousands of Black and Brown people to prison. Vance, instead, is turning to social services, rather than pursuing conventional prosecutions that leads to mass incarceration.

Community activists and advocacy organizations are committed to watching their prosecutors closely, in an effort to end over-charging, over-sentencing, money bail and other numerous practices that increase mass incarceration and threaten the welfare of communities across the state.