Category: Archive

Rosa Cohen-Cruz Presented Testimony at City Council on ICE Out of New York Courts

New York City Council Committee on Immigration Jointly with the Committee on Justice System Hearing re: Oversight – ICE out of New York Courts April 10, 2019 Written Testimony of The Bronx Defenders By Rosa Cohen-Cruz Good afternoon, my name is Rosa Cohen-Cruz and I am a Padilla Supervisor in the Immigration Practice at The […]

Medium: What We Mean When We Say #AbolishBigData2019

“In whatever form it might take, we orient our future work toward the commitment that data must be used to measure systems, not people.” Rebecca Widom, our Chief Data Scientist, presented at the University of California Irvine’s two-day workshop “Datafication and Community Activism: Redrawing the Boundaries of Research” on how the important work of data […]

Documented: Immigration Hearings in New York Are Being Rescheduled Without Notice

“There have been at least two dozen clients who, only through checking the portal have we learned that their individual hearings, scheduled mostly for June, have just been unilaterally rescheduled for dates as early as next week, and there has been no notice, no phone call,” says Sarah Deri Oshiro, our Managing Director of the […]

Justine Olderman Presented Testimony at City Council’s Preliminary Budget Hearing

New York City Council Committee on Justice System Preliminary Budget Hearing March 19, 2019 Testimony of The Bronx Defenders By Justine Olderman, Executive Director The Bronx Defenders provides innovative, holistic, and client-centered services to low-income people of the Bronx- these services include criminal defense, family defense, immigration representation, civil legal services, social work support and […]

The Appeal: What Happens Before Police Press “Record”?

“Even if the police are giving Miranda warnings right after they hit play, it doesn’t mean they haven’t already talked to our clients about the content of the interrogation before that. And that obviously raises questions about whether pre-interrogation conversations with the police undermine the force of the Miranda rights in the first place.” Emily […]

Statement on the School-to-Prison Pipeline

Crystal Baker-Burr, our Education Attorney, spoke at a City Hall press conference with Organizing For Equity on the school-to-prison pipeline and how students of color are marginalized within the education system. Her speech is transcribed below.  Our School Discipline System is Broken At the Bronx Defenders, I work with young people at the end of the […]

The Legislative Gazette: Wrongfully accused push for discovery reform

“We can no longer accept a bail system that creates and entrenches wealth and race-based disparities and feeds mass incarceration; a speedy trial law that allows cases to languish without a realistic opportunity to have one’s day in court; or a discovery law that deprives the accused of access to the most basic information about […]