In the past few decades, New York City has implemented successful strategies to increase safety while reducing incarceration. This approach lightened the impact of the criminal justice system on Black and Brown communities, although racial disparities persist. While New York City, like other large cities, suffered a large increase in gun violence over the past year—a rise that deserves focused attention—the data are definitive that this was not driven by people released pretrial. New York City remains the safest large city in America and has the lowest incarceration rate.

This report takes the lessons of the past, the currents of this moment, and the science that underlies it all to propose a way for New York City to close Rikers and realize its ambitions for a safer and fairer city.