Category: Archive

City Limits: Opinion: Don’t Leave the Vulnerable with Less Defense in NYC Courtrooms

“COVID-19 has upended every aspect of public life. It has also exposed and exacerbated the racial and economic disparities that have long existed in this city. Our legal systems are no different in that regard. Even as some court functions have slowed down, our legal systems continue to target and ensnare low-income New Yorkers. ‘Social […]

CityLimits: City’s Courts Seen Lacking in Interpreters

“The situation is complicated when these organizations cannot pay for private simultaneous translation services and the lawyers are not bilingual. If a defendant is in custody, “you can’t talk to the person if you don’t know the language,” explains Alice Fontier, director of criminal practice at The Bronx Defenders. So for those who can’t make […]

The City: Parents Seeking Return of Children First Must Forge Connections On Screens

“At the Bronx Defenders, which is working with the Bronx mother, efforts to reunify families are sometimes cut short by an agency’s insistence that a parent have a longer track record of supervised visits with caseworkers and sessions with therapists and counselors. The pandemic has also had a significant impact on access to services — […]

Tahanee Dunn Presents Testimony at New York City Council Committee on Criminal Justice and Committee on the Justice System Re: COVID-19 in City Jails and Juvenile Detention Facilities

New York City Council Committee on Criminal Justice and Committee on the Justice System Re: COVID-19 in City Jails and Juvenile Detention Facilities May 19th, 2020 Written Testimony of The Bronx Defenders By Tahanee Dunn, Robyn Goldberg, Martha Grieco, Deborah Lolai & Julia Solomons  Good afternoon Chair Powers, Chair Lancman, and committee members. My name […]

Talk Poverty: Coronavirus Could Cost Parents Custody of Kids in Foster Care

“In some states, like New York and California, there have been no official statewide orders cutting off all in-person visitation; instead agencies have been directed to make decisions on a case-by-case basis. But those on the ground say this is still leaving many parents without a voice in the decision-making process. Despite state-level guidance that […]

Revolt: Lil Tjay partners with The Bronx Defenders to support inmates amidst pandemic

“Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, low-income black and brown communities like the Bronx have been hit the hardest,” Bronx Defenders Executive Director Justine Olderman said in the release. “This is a community that depends heavily on public transportation, encompasses countless essential workers and is over criminalized into a legal system that crams people into jail […]

City Limits: Opinion: ICE Detention Facilities Have Failed to Protect People from COVID-19

“As COVID-19 continues to devastate the country, we have witnessed the failure of Immigration Customs & Enforcement (ICE) to prevent the transmission of the coronavirus in our local jails. It is hard to imagine a government agency less equipped to address the COVID-19 pandemic than ICE. Even under “normal” circumstances before the pandemic,  ICE proved […]