The Bronx Defenders : Community Outreach : The Civil Action Project

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The Civil Action Project

OUR MISSION The Bronx Defenders is an innovative public defense organization dedicated to addressing the underlying issues that lead to involvement with the criminal justice system. Our Civil Action Project provides comprehensive legal services to our clients and their families by fully integrating civil representation with our criminal defense practice. Our goal is to develop proactive approaches to minimize the severe and often unforeseen fallout from criminal proceedings and facilitate the reentry of our clients into the community.

BREAKING THE CYCLE When the state exercises its most powerful tool of authority by initiating a criminal proceeding, whole families can be swept away by the civil consequences. A criminal proceeding can result in far-reaching and unforeseen harm, leading to lost homes, deportation, lost jobs, and broken families. For many of our clients, these hardships, which are often felt by their children and families, are more severe than the criminal charges confronting them.

Conversely, complications such as a loss of benefits, termination of employment, or an eviction often serve as the catalyst for entry into the criminal justice system. As a leader in the community defender initiative, The Bronx Defenders recognizes that most clients cycle through the criminal justice system as a result of deeper and interrelated social problems that existing social services have failed to address.

As public defenders, we have the unique opportunity to break this cycle through early intervention in a crisis. We know that:

Integrated services can help stabilize a family during the upheaval of a criminal case and address many of the underlying social and legal problems (such as addiction and homelessness) that contribute to the cycle of poverty and crime.
In conjunction with our office’s intensive social work support, proper civil advocacy can result in the reinstatement of benefits or employment or the prevention of an eviction, effectively eliminating the legal difficulties or hardships that may have caused the initial arrest.

We are committed to an interdisciplinary and community-based approach to resolving the crisis of a criminal case, addressing root problems that lead to crime and helping our clients reenter society as productive citizens.

COMPREHENSIVE SERVICES Invisible punishments plot a useful outline of the structure that traps low-income clients in recurring encounters with the criminal justice system. The project’s three attorneys advocate for our clients in every venue in New York City – administrative, state, and federal – to address these problems, handling close to 500 cases each year. Each advocate provides a unique service to our clients and their families.

Our in-house immigration specialist consults with clients and attorneys during the criminal process, represents clients in deportation proceedings after the criminal process, and works on community-based systemic reform litigation and advocacy aimed at reforming unforgiving federal immigration laws.
Our civil staff attorney provides comprehensive advocacy to help our clients resolve fundamental problems such as homelessness, eviction, employment, public benefits, and disability.
The project director supervises these efforts, represents individual clients, and concentrates on the collaborative projects detailed below.

Comprehensive Services in Action: Catherine had already been in Drug Treatment Court for over a year when she was rearrested for drug steering. Ordinarily, this spells a two to six year sentence. It turns out that she just had a baby, and the preceding week, welfare had randomly cut all of her benefits, and her LL had served her with eviction papers. She desperately needed money, so she agreed to point anyone who asked for drugs in the direction of a street-level dealer. A Civil Action Project attorney appeared in criminal court, promised to handle the eviction and welfare issues, and persuaded the judge not to remand Catherine for more jail time. This advocacy kept her in her treatment program for substance abuse and mental health issues. Two eviction cases and a welfare fair hearing later, she completed her program, got a new Section 8 apartment, and is on the road to getting the rest of her kids back.

Moreover, we collaborate with the surrounding community to identify and challenge systemic, unfair or discriminatory practices that arise from involvement with the criminal justice system in fields including housing, police practices, benefits, employment law, and immigration policy.

TRAINING & EDUCATION Building from our experience in direct services and supported in part by the Arthur Liman Public Interest Program, we train criminal defense and civil legal services attorneys in New York State to raise awareness about these “invisible punishments” and provide strategies for overcoming them. The Community Defender Resource Center educates and supports criminal defense advocates through intensive trainings, materials, and live support.

Jose L. had lived in the United States for over eight years and was applying to be a permanent resident. He was charged with grand larceny of a car. The plea offer of misdemeanor larceny or possession of stolen property would have rendered him deportable. Advised by the Civil Action Project, his lawyer convinced the prosecutor to offer an equivalent misdemeanor, unauthorized use, that had no immigration consequences.

Civil Action Project attorneys counsel criminal defense attorneys daily in specific cases on how to avoid hidden sanctions that drive clients deeper into a cycle of crime. Experience has taught us that when defenders are able to educate prosecutors and judges on the draconian consequences for clients and their families, prosecutors often offer more favorable pleas – even outright dismissals. Knowledge of these consequences and zealous defense advocacy have preserved many clients' hard-earned jobs and have prevented many evictions from subsidized housing and even deportations.

Holistic advocacy is not simply an ideal; it is a necessity. To those living in poverty, the margin of survival is precariously narrow. Each lives in a house of cards, and one adverse action may send it tumbling down. By focusing on the needs of the “whole client” – assisting their families, advocating for their communities, and addressing the underlying issues that have caused their involvement with the criminal justice system – we empower individuals, strengthen families, and help communities to prosper.

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