Category: Archive
Adam Shoop Presented Testimony at City Council Committee on Public Safety
Adam Shoop, Legal Director of the Civil Action Practice, presented testimony at the New York City Council Committee on Public Safety for a hearing regarding Int. 1000-2015, a local law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to requiring the police department to report seized property data on an […]
NYPD needs to come clean on seized property data
“Whether through litigation or legislation, New Yorkers must have access to full information regarding these practices. It’s time for the NYPD to open its books.” Adam Shoop, attorney in the Civil Action Practice at The Bronx Defenders, writes for amNew York on the need for transparency regarding NYPD property seizure practices. Read his op-ed here. For more […]
The Judges New York Elects Will Alter Lives
WNYC features an incredible victory from our Prostitution Conviction Vacatur Project, a project we launched in 2013 with the aim of identifying all our clients who have criminal convictions as a result of having been a victim of sex trafficking and working with them to vacate the conviction. Listen to the story here.
When the NYPD Keeps Your Property: Frequently Asked Questions About Civil Forfeiture
The NYPD regularly seizes cash, cellphones, cars, and other property during arrests. Property that is not contraband should be returned to its rightful owner when the case is dismissed or terminated unless the district attorney’s office can establish that the valuables are still needed as evidence for an appeal or another proceeding. In practice, something […]
The Bronx Defenders’ Perspective on Police Body-Worn Cameras
The essence of any police body-worn camera program should be the need for increased police accountability. Economically marginalized communities, particularly communities of color, have long been over-policed, subjecting their residents to degrees of state oversight and intervention that would never be tolerated in suburban communities. Examples of this have included so-called “broken windows policing,” recently discredited […]
In the Bronx, justice is delayed & denied
Our Executive Director, Robin Steinberg, published the following piece in Daily News about our lawsuit challenging systemic court delay in the Bronx. “This situation constitutes nothing short of a constitutional crisis. People in the poorest borough in New York, with the highest percentage of black and Latino residents, are being forced to choose between returning to […]
No One in NYC Should Be Forced to Make These Choices
Karume James, a staff attorney in our Criminal Defense Practice, published the following piece in The Huffington Post about the need for reduced fare MetroCards for low-income New Yorkers and the impact such a program would have on our clients. “Among the many “broken windows” cases we get at The Bronx Defenders, I’ve always found arrests for […]
New York Times Editorial: A Nightmare Court, Worthy of Dickens
The New York Times Editorial Board weighs in on Trowbridge et al., v. Cuomo et al, our federal lawsuit challenging the epidemic of court delays in the Bronx Criminal Court. “This Dickensian nightmare is all too common in the Bronx, according to a class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday in Federal District Court by the Bronx Defenders, […]
Public Defenders In The Bronx, N.Y., File Lawsuit Over Court Delays
“Public defenders in the Bronx filed a lawsuit Tuesday against lawmakers in New York. They charge that courts are chronically understaffed, jeopardizing the right to a speedy trial for many defendants.” Listen to the story here. For more on the lawsuit, see our press release.
Groundbreaking Federal Lawsuit Challenges Epidemic of Delay in Bronx Criminal Court
Contact: media@bronxdefenders.org Broken System Undermines Right to Speedy Trial and Due Process for Thousands of People Charged with Low-Level Offenses, Causing Significant Social and Economic Hardships NEW YORK (May 10, 2016) – A federal class action lawsuit was filed today against Governor Andrew Cuomo and the administrators of New York State’s Unified Court System for […]