Vera works with government and community partners across the country to advance research, analyze policy, pilot programs, and implement solutions on the ground. Working on nearly 60 projects in 40 states, Vera is committed to developing solutions to the most pressing injustices of our day. This page encompasses all of Vera’s work in New York, and any related news coverage.
In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder in May 2020, nationwide calls for reallocation of law enforcement budgets forced elected leaders to consider the values underlying their budgetary choices. But discussions largely remained limited to policing. Few major U.S. cities took a hard look at the billions invested in their increasingly vacant jails ...
New York’s recent bail reform law, which was passed in April 2019 and amended on July 2, 2020, was expected to reduce the footprint of jail incarceration by limiting the use of money bail. The new law mandated pretrial release for the vast majority of nonviolent charges and required that judges consider a person’s ability to pay bail. A comprehens ...
As of 2019, a typical New York county spent more than $225 to keep someone behind bars for a single night. These high costs are driven largely by overstaffing. Understanding staffing levels, therefore, is key to understanding counties’ jail spending. Using data from the New York State Commission on Correction, Vera compared staffing levels from 201 ...
New York has recently made some strides to reduce its incarcerated population. But to end mass incarceration, New York must address both the number of people entering jails and prisons and the amount of time they spend there. These four fact sheets outline how funding statewide pretrial services, enacting “second-look” laws, expanding earned time c ...
Anthony Dixon, director of community engagement for Parole Prep NY, speaks in favor of prison parole for the elderly at the state Capitol in Albany, New York, on January 14, 2020. Photo by Hans Pennink for AP Images. Why are people eligible for parole being denied when they pose no public safety threat? Every year in New York, approximately 10,000 ...
Examining Parole Denials in New York State
Every year in New York State, roughly 10,000 people appear before the Board of Parole to make their cases for release. In 2019, only 40 percent of people were granted parole, and in 2020—a year that demanded decarceration in the name of public health and safety given the risk of spreading COVID-19 in congregate settings—the release rate rose by onl ...
For decades, thousands of New Yorkers, primarily people of color, were held in jail pretrial—sometimes for years—simply because they could not afford to pay bail. Bail reform ushered in a period of considerable decarceration across New York State, and the number of people in jail dropped even further as authorities responded to the COVID-19 pandemi ...
Since it was passed in April 2019, New York State’s bail reform law has received enormous attention from both its supporters and critics. Vera’s 3.5-year NYBRE study will provide comprehensive impact evaluations of the reform utilizing multiple research methods including administrative data analysis, court observations, interviews with system actor ...
How Counties Outside New York City Can Reduce Jail Spending and Invest in Communities
Jail populations have fallen significantly across New York State, and crime has dropped as well. But spending on jails continues to climb. In 2019, the 57 counties outside New York City collectively spent more than $1.3 billion to staff and run their jails. Counties must cut jail spending and reinvest those savings in communities most impacted by m ...