New York judges receive ‘cheat sheet’ to help navigate new bail reform law: Report

Judges in New York State are reportedly being handed a "cheat sheet" to help them navigate the particulars of a complex new set of bail reform rules recently passed in the state.

Jurists there have been given "an eight-page ‘cheat sheet’ to use in court" to ensure they can follow the state’s bail guidelines correctly, according to the New York Post.

The Post said that the "cheat sheets" were distributed after a set of "mandatory, three-day seminars for all 1,300 judges" within the state in order to bring them up to speed on the bail rules promulgated by the state legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul. 

The sheet is reportedly seven pages long and is itself distilled from a 49-page section of the state’s "Bail Bench Book." The shortened version is reportedly "supplemented with 25 footnotes," the Post said.

Hochul and Democrats have argued that the tweaks to the state’s bail reform give judges wide latitude when determining how much bail to set, though critics have argued that it hamstrings judges and prevents them from exercising meaningful judicial oversight.