But even if New York, for some reason, refused to raise the age, and refused to offer people their constitutional right to a speedy trial, at least one more safety net should've saved Kalief. It is fundamentally unethical that we basically have income requirements determining who stays in jail and who doesn't. We might as well check for credit scores. That Kalief, and tens of thousands of New Yorkers, end up going to jail, and costing our state hundreds of millions of dollars, simply because they could not afford the upfront costs of a fine, is outrageous. With the cost of living in New York City being what it is, and wages for working-class families meaning that folk can hardly get by, living paycheck to paycheck, what we have now is the reality that we have two justice systems — one for the wealthy and one for everyone else. If someone, particular people being arrested for petty or non-violent offenses, can prove that they do not have the funds to pay bail, the response should never be to then send them to Rikers. That's outrageous. Our system does not have to be so cruel and obtuse. Instead, people who cannot afford bail should be sent down a very different path with the appropriate legal aid to ensure they attend their court hearings and have a speedy trial.