Category: Archive
City Limits: State Senator: Citywide Bail Fund Would Help, Not Hinder, Courts
A recent Daily News editorial titled “City Council: Do not pass go on bad-idea bail fund” erroneously asserted that the city-wide bail fund being considered by the City Council was unnecessary, a waste of taxpayer dollars, and would undermine the authority of judges. With all due respect to The Daily News, I could not disagree […]
Al Jazeera America: New York City police rethink ‘Broken Windows’ strategy
“The type of offenses that I see everyday in the courthouse in the South Bronx are not the type of offenses that are being policed in rich, affluent, white neighborhoods.” – Justine Olderman Bronx Defenders Managing Director of the Criminal Defense Practice Justine Olderman appeared on Al Jazeera America last night to discuss the negative […]
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: ArchCity Defenders saw problems with municipal courts before Ferguson turmoil
Two years before Ferguson attracted national attention for racial tension and questionable court practices, a group of volunteer lawyers calling itself the ArchCity Defenders was already concluding that something was off about the city. Today the group is at the forefront of a legal movement to overhaul municipal courts regionally — one that has already […]
Kate Rubin and Scott Levy testified before City Council on community policing
Bronx Defenders Managing Director of the Civil Action Practice Kate Rubin, together with Fundamental Fairness Project Director Scott Levy, submitted written comments on behalf of The Bronx Defenders to New York City Council’s Committee on Public Safety on March 3, 2015, discussing key issues to consider in community policing. The testimony describes two critical lenses through which […]
City Limits: The Rap-Sheet Trap: Mistaken Arrest Records Haunt Millions
Melissa wasn’t aiming terribly high: She wanted to be a substitute teacher in New York City’s school system, a job that would combine her passion for education with a decent paycheck. Yet her modest goal had to go on hold thanks to the inability of an upstate court to verify that her almost 20-year-old shoplifting […]
Capital New York: Officials: Expand legal program for immigrants
Members of the state Assembly and advocates want to expand a public defender program for immigrant New Yorkers who are facing deportation. The New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP) aims to decrease the rate of deportations of New Yorkers who, for the most part, have been living lawful, productive lives despite their unresolved legal […]
Gotham Gazette: Bronx Program Serves as Inspiration for Mark-Viverito’s City-Wide Bail Fund Proposal
Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito used her first State of the City address to advocate major reforms to the city’s criminal justice system designed to keep low-level offenders out of jail. Along with a call to issue more tickets rather than arrest people for misdemeanors, in her speech earlier this month the speaker proposed a city-wide […]
City Limits: NY’s Certificates Offer Catch-22 to People Convicted of Crimes
When John Orlando was released from prison last year, he wanted to get his life back. He’d worked for decades as a funeral director, and he wanted to keep doing that. He loved the work, he needed the money, and he wanted the dignity of paying back the money he stole. “I was guilty. I […]
Keston Jones to speak on “The State of the Black Family” panel at Penn State Law
Bronx Defenders Parent Advocate and Focus on Fathers Project Coordinator Keston Jones will be joining a panel discussion at Penn State Law, organized by the Black Law Students Association, on Tuesday, February 3, 2015. Penn State Law is hosting this program as part of Black History Month to address how Black families are treated throughout the […]
New York Law Journal: City Broadens Its Evaluation of Indigent Criminal Defense
New York City officials are testing a number of methods to assess the quality of indigent criminal defense, which, they say, is part of a broader attempt to make for a fairer criminal justice system. Though the city now tracks conviction rates, incarceration rates, case duration, charge reduction and disposition at arraignments, officials in Mayor […]