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Redefining public defense.

The Bronx Defenders In the News

The Intercept: ICE’s New York Office Uses A Rigged Algorithm To Keep Virtually All Arrestees In Detention. The ACLU Says It’s Unconstitutional

IN 2013, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement quietly began using a software tool to recommend whether people arrested over immigration violations should be let go after 48 hours or detained. The software’s algorithm supposedly pored over a variety of risk factors before outputting a decision. A new lawsuit, however, filed by the New York Civil Liberties…

The Intercept: The Backlash

Justine Olderman, of the Bronx Defenders, agreed. “One of the strongest lessons we’ve learned so far is just the fact of the backlash,” she said. “The drive to detain is so powerful, the drive to detain and punish mostly black and brown people from low-income communities is so strict, that it doesn’t matter how careful…

The City: He’s 67, With Renal Disease, An Eviction Case And No Help Finding A Home

If Alvin Linton’s landlord gets her way, the ailing 67-year-old will soon be evicted from the northeast Bronx home he’s lived in for nearly 40 years. Situations like Linton’s — where a senior with limited income faces the threat of homelessness — aren’t novel in New York. Recent city data shows the number of senior citizens in homeless…

Fox 40: Fact Check: Bloomberg leaves out key parts of his history on stop and frisk policy

Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, another opponent of stop and frisk, said that internal police shifts were not convincing evidence Bloomberg had truly had an epiphany, especially given that he kept fighting Scheindlin’s ruling and impeding efforts at policy reform. (Some of Bloomberg’s criticism of Scheindlin was validated by an appeals court that removed her from the case,…

Oneida Daily Dispatch: Capitol Watch: Fate of pot sales in New York is unclear

Eli Northrup, policy counsel to the criminal defense practice at Bronx Defenders, said marijuana convictions are keeping people from getting jobs, putting immigrants at risk of deportation and complicating child custody matters. “What people don’t feel is the urgency with this,” Northrup said. “White people, people in power, they don’t feel the effects of the…

The Austin Chronicle: County Names Its First Chief Public Defender

Last week, in a culminating vote that took roughly one minute, Travis County Commissioners Court took the next major step toward establishing a public defender office: appointing University of Virginia Law School lecturer Adeola Ogunkeyede as the county’s first chief public defender. According to the official announcement, Ogunkeyede will provide “robust and client-centered representation to adults accused of misdemeanor and felony offenses ……

BRIC TV: The New Jane Crow

For wealthier white parents, the practice of smoking cannabis is becoming widely more accepted. But for poor families of color, a positive marijuana toxicology report can have life altering consequences. The New Jane Crow tells the story of two mothers who had neglect cases opened by the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) after their newborns…

The Post-Journal: Bail Reform Debate Deepens Among State Democrats

A group of New York criminal defense organizations, including The Bronx Defenders, criticized the proposal and said it assumes that judges and prosecutors can predict a person’s behavior. “This will result in injustice for everyone in New York and will certainly end up exacerbating racially disparate outcomes,” they said in a statement. State Assembly Speaker Carl…

New York Post: State Democrats rip Nassau officials for ‘blatantly lying’ about MS-13 witness death

A joint statement from Innocence Project, The Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defender Services, the Bronx Defenders, the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and Citizen Action of New York called the incident an “extremely disturbing” move to exploit Rodriguez’s murder. “These statements by law enforcement are again another attempt to use lies and…

Politico: Bail reformers face public relations hurdle

“We know that people who have open cases are always hesitant to share stories with the press for fear that notoriety or attention to their case will somehow prejudice them in their case,” said Scott Levy, chief policy counsel at the Bronx Defenders. “And now those fears are heightened because we see that people who…

Politico: Year begins with crime spike in NYC amid statewide bail debate

Eli Northrup of the Bronx Defenders, one of a small group of advocates who held signs supporting bail reform outside the mayor’s press conference, called it “kind of ridiculous” to argue “that a month of cherry-picked [stats] justifies a rollback of this needed reform.” “The mayor for some reason and the police commissioner seem hell-bent…

NYU News: Arguments Against New York’s Cash Bail Reforms Are Dated

“But bail has little effect on the likelihood of defendants returning to court. After the Bronx Defenders bailed out 150 people, 95% of their clients attended every court appearance, and almost 50% of the cases were dismissed entirely. The high return rate fundamentally undermines the supposed purpose of bail — incentivizing defendants to show up to their…

City and State: Advocates: Don’t make changes to the state’s new bail law

“A coalition of 60 criminal justice reform groups are sending an open letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders demanding that they don’t change the state’s newly enacted law limiting the use of cash bail. “Make no mistake,” the letter reads, in part, “retreating from bail reform less than a week after it goes…

Human Rights Watch: Groups Urge NY Lawmakers to Stand Firm on Bail Reform

January 1st was a historic day that ushered in pretrial reforms that will make New York fairer and more just. These reforms are a huge step forward towards eliminating the race- and wealth-based detention that has plagued New York for decades. The new laws will dramatically expand pretrial liberty and reduce jail populations and taxpayer…

Gotham Gazette: Real Criminal Justice Reform Requires Standing Up to Fear-Mongering

“Nearly five years ago, Jerome Murdough, an African-American Marine Corps veteran, died on Rikers Island due to a combination of injustice, inhumanity, and medical neglect. Afflicted by homelessness and mental illness, Murdough tragically passed away when temperatures in his cell reached 100 degrees – heat that was contraindicated with his medicine – and he baked…