Bench Card: New York’s Bail Statute | Pretrial Options

Per New York’s bail reform law, the court must base pretrial conditions on whether the individual facing charges poses a “risk of flight” and on the “degree of control or restriction necessary” to assure return to court.

Since the initial implementation of the reforms in early 2020, there have been three rounds of amendments that respectively went into effect July 2020, May 2022, and June 2023 (see corresponding document, Explaining New York’s 2023 Bail Reform Amendments, for a comprehensive summary of the most recent 2023 bail amendments).

This bench card incorporates each round of amendments in an attempt to clarify eligibility for bail, electronic monitoring, and other pretrial options.

*Originally published in 2019, this bench card was updated after the most recent round of amendments passed in May 2023.