Explaining New York’s 2023 Bail Reform Amendments

On May 2, 2023, Governor Kathy Hochul signed New York’s Fiscal Year 2024 state budget, which included changes to the State’s bail reform law. Driven by an effort to reduce the number of people held in pretrial detention and address persistent economic and racial disparities in New York’s jail population, bail reform initially passed in 2019 and has now been amended on three separate occasions — effective July 2020, April 2022, and June 2023. This document analyzes each key component of the latest 2023 bail amendments, including their potential effects on bail setting and pretrial decision making in practice.

We have also developed a corresponding practitioner resource in the form of a Bench Card, which summarizes and clarifies eligibility for different pretrial options following the most recent round of amendments.