Beginning this week, the Manhattan district attorney’s office is no longer requesting that bail be set in most misdemeanor and violation cases. The Brooklyn district attorney’s office implemented its policy in April 2017.
Under new misdemeanor bail guidelines, the DA’s office will operate from the presumption that no bail is to be requested in misdemeanor and violation cases. The office will continue to ask for bail in certain cases involving violence, including domestic violence, sex crimes and injury to a police or peace officer.
The office might also continue to request bail in additional cases, including those in which the defendant has been convicted of a violent felony or other serious felony (e.g., sex trafficking, robbery in the third degree) within the past 10 years, convicted of a sex crime, has a pending felony case or multiple pending misdemeanor cases or is on parole, probation or supervised release.
Manhattan DA Cy Vance said his office will continue to recommend community-based supervised release in appropriate cases. The district attorney’s office’s new policy was crafted in consultation with Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, who has promulgated similar guidelines in Kings County.