Introduction
As a result of a years-long crisis in the sphere of criminal justice, the cash bail system has been reformed in New York City. It has been criticized for numerous reasons, the main one being that people of color with low incomes were disproportionately affected (Arnaud and Sims-Agbabiaka 19). Following years of criticism, cash bail was finally eliminated for all but the most violent crimes. This change has been rather controversial as well, sparking a heated discussion. From a functionalist perspective, it can be argued that the bail system was one of many systemic issues in the U.S. and that the reform was a positive change.
Discussion
Approved under significant societal pressure, New York City’s Bail Reform consisted of two key sets of amendments. The first was approved in 2019 by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and included the elimination of “cash bail and pretrial detention for many misdemeanor and nonviolent felony defendants” (Arnaud and Sims-Agbabiaka 3). However, the second set of amendments passed in 2020 served to partly rectify the first one “by significantly expanding the offenses eligible for bail and pretrial detention” (Arnaud and Sims-Agbabiaka 3). Regardless, as it stands, the amount of crimes that are subject to cash bail has significantly shrunk and currently only includes the violent ones.
To discuss the reform, it is necessary to establish the pervasiveness of the systemic issues that enabled the bail system to be harmful. In fact, it is no secret that the prison population in the U.S. is fueled by several so-called “pipelines.” In particular, research on the notorious “public-housing-to-prison pipeline” has shown that minority neighborhoods are disproportionally affected by incarceration despite recording a regular level of crime (Holder et al. 6). Moreover, it can be argued that the very existence of “pipelines” is a systemic issue.
Other research regarding systemic issues at the core of the prison system has proven to have similar findings. In his exploration of the school-to-prison pipeline, Wilson discusses how exclusionary means of social control in schools, namely punishments such as suspensions and expulsions, ultimately fuel the prison system (50). The social control system—a set of conventions accepted by most—is mainly exerted upon those who show even the least signs of deviance or divergence from the norm. Wilson states that disproportionate school punishments “predict poor life outcomes and are implicated in the mass incarceration of boys and young men of color” (49).
Additionally, Wilson points out that students with one suspension are five times more likely to drop out (51). This aligns with the labeling theory, which suggests that the singular occurrence of being labeled multiplies the possibility of that label becoming true.
To look at the root cause of many of these systemic issues, it is useful to discuss Jean Anyon’s study “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work.” Her work, based on observing the school conditions of different societal classes, sheds light on many issues. For example, Anyon showcases how social stratification—the class divide between groups of people—is created by the income level and type of work they do, then perpetrated by the school system (87). Moreover, Anyon discusses how socialization, or the process of learning how to interact with other members of society, occurs differently for the members of different classes (89). The final conclusion is that children of working-class parents are systematically prevented from learning social and cognitive skills that are ultimately necessary for performing jobs of the higher-earning classes (Anyon 90). These can be summed up as the main findings of “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work.”
Most importantly, Anyon’s work can be analyzed through a functionalist lens in regard to the issues with criminal justice in the U.S. When viewing society as a whole according to a functionalist approach; it seems fitting that many of the overarching societal issues are rooted in education, as its main manifest function is to produce new members of society. As pointed out by Anyon, the accumulation of wealth by the working class as well as the middle class is made difficult by the education system, which is socially stratified. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the cash bail system systematically made the lives of the lower-earning classes worse. In essence, the cash bail system was a tax, and those who could not afford it could face unreasonably harsh consequences. Therefore, it becomes obvious that the reform of the bail system and the elimination of cash bail were an attempt to confront a systemic issue and, ultimately, a change for the better.
Conclusion
Having explored many issues of the criminal justice system in the U.S., it can be seen that the bail system shares many of the characteristics of the pipelines, namely its cyclical nature. Moreover, another similarity is that it disproportionally affects those who belong to lower-earning classes, as well as people of color and other minorities. It can be concluded that the bail reform in New York City was a positive change.
Works Cited
Anyon, Jean. “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work.” The Journal of Education, vol. 162, no. 1, 1980, pp. 67–92.
Arnaud, Emmanuel Hiram, and Sims-Agbabiaka, Beulah. “New York Bail Reform: A Quick Guide to Common Questions and Concerns.” Cornell L. Rev. Online, vol. 106, no. 1, 2020.
Holder, Jay, et al. “Concentrated Incarceration and the Public-Housing-To-Prison Pipeline in New York City Neighborhoods.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 119, no. 36, 2022. Web.
Wilson, Harry. “Turning off the School-to-Prison Pipeline.” Reclaiming Children & Youth, vol. 23, no. 1, 2014, pp. 49–53.