New York Daily News: Courthouse cameras violate constitutional rights, public defenders say
“Public defenders have demanded the Department of Correction disable all surveillance cameras filming their first encounters with clients amid an ongoing case over whether the recordings violate the constitutional right to an attorney.” Read more here.
New York Times: How to Make New York as Progressive on Criminal Justice as Texas
“They claim that there was a gun in the bag. When they tested the bag for fingerprints there were thirteen fingerprints on the bag, none of which matched my clients’. We ultimately won this trial but my client was this close to going to prison. Had we gotten this evidence before, we might have been…
Harvard Law Review: The Effects of Holistic Defense on Criminal Justice Outcomes
This Article offers the first large-scale, rigorous evaluation of the impact of holistic defense on criminal justice outcomes. In the Bronx, New York City, a holistic defense provider (The Bronx Defenders) and a traditional defender (the Legal Aid Society) operate side-by-side within the same court system, with case assignment determined quasi-randomly based on court shift…
City Limits: New Push to Provide Legal Advice to Parents Facing Abuse and Neglect Investigations
“People say, ‘Take my liberty but I want to keep my children,” says Emma Ketteringham, our Managing Director of the Family Defense Practice. Legal counsel is critical for parents undergoing investigation or in family court, especially when a child is at stake. Stella B. said she never had the opportunity to be properly investigated because…
News 12: Lawyer calls for reform ahead of potential marijuana legalization
“There needs to be automatic expungement of criminal records because the racial disparity will continue to haunt people.” Eli Northrup, our Associate Special Counsel to Criminal Defense, talks about how it’s imperative to be intentional about equity for minorities as marijuana legalization becomes likely in 2019. Simply making it legal to possess and smoke marijuana…
New York Times: A Woman’s Rights: Part 5 “The Mothers Society Condemns”
Our Emma Ketteringham and Erin Cloud spoke to The New York Times on how pregnant women with a history of drug use are mistreated, abused and criminalized for larger structural issues. “According to National Advocates for Pregnant Women, an advocacy and legal group, in just about every state, expectant mothers with a history or suspicion…
Giants: A Bronx Tale: Giants tackle criminal justice reform
The New York Giants visited The Bronx Defenders’ office to discuss everything from mass incarceration to what sports’ role is in working toward justice. “We are well aware that there is a strong history of social activism in sports, but I will say as public defenders, this is the first time that we have seen…
New York Law Journal: NYC Public Defenders, Not Assigned Counsel, to Get First Call in Homicide Cases
“There are some excellent 18-B attorneys and there are some people who aren’t as committed to handling their clients as they should be,” says Alice Fontier, Managing Director of the Criminal Defense Practice. “The Bronx sees an average of about 100 homicide cases annually. Fontier said that defense providers such as The Bronx Defenders can bring more…
Audible: New Family Values
Our Mary Anne Mendenhall and her client Tina have a conversation on Audible’s “New Family Values” podcast. Hear them in Chapter 7: Protecting the Child, here.
DocumentedNY: Court Use of Video Teleconferencing Causes Case Slowdown
It has been five months since Immigration and Customs Enforcement has transported any immigrants to appear in person at the Varick Street immigration courts. This is taking a toll on our clients, their ability to fight their cases, and their right to due process. Our Sarah Deri Oshiro explains how some immigrants appear before a…
New York Times: Letter to the Editor: Public Defenders Are Part of the Solution
“While indigent defense is chronically underfunded, hard-working public defenders stand shoulder to shoulder with their clients every day in the fight for justice. Rather than see defender as contributing to a system of racism and oppression, we should look to defenders as a critical part of the new future Mr. Mill calls on us to…
WNYC: Bronx DA Won’t Ask Supreme Court to Decide on Jury Trials for Immigrants
Alice Fontier, managing director of the Criminal Defense practice, welcomed the DA’s decision to not ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Suazo case in hopes of changing the law so that all defendants accused of class B misdemeanors, not just immigrants, can get jury trials. She said citizens also face harsh punishments if…
The Appeal: New York Just Changed the Way it Prosecutes Kids, But Some Got Left Behind
“If the District Attorney’s office believes every gun possession case is ‘extraordinary,’ they misunderstand the nature of Raise the Age. A blanket position that every firearm possession amounts to ‘extraordinary circumstances’ would be an attempt to get around the intent of Raise the Age and to continue using the adult criminal justice system against children.”…
The Chronicle of Social Change: New York City Council Confronts Child Welfare Agency Over Emergency Parent-Child Separations
Between Oct 2016-May 2018, ACS reported a 30% increase in “emergency removals,” removing a child before the case has appeared before a judge. Our Managing Director of the Family Defense Practice Emma Ketteringham testified before the New York City Council on the impact of this alarming trend. “Parent advocates like Coles and Emma Ketteringham of the legal…
WNYC: New York’s Highest Court Rules Immigrants Deserve Jury Trials, Even for Misdemeanors
The New York Court of Appeals has ruled that immigrants are entitled to a jury trial, even when they’re accused of misdemeanors that carry sentences of six months or less. This is a groundbreaking decision that will provide people a meaningful day in court to fight charges that could lead to deportation. “Jury trials are…
VOICES: Dinah Ortiz: Family, Women’s and Criminal Justice Reform Advocate
“What lead me to work with the marginalized community is my own personal experience of having child welfare in my life. In the beginning of 1999, I had that infamous knock on the door in the middle of the night that we [parents] fear so much.” Our Dinah Ortiz-Adames, parent advocate, talks about about how…
WNYC: Lawsuit: Immigration Detainees Wait Average 80 Days for Court Date
“Due process requires that the government give you a hearing within a few days of seizing your car,” says Niji Jain, Impact Litigation attorney at The Bronx Defenders. “And if that’s what’s required for when your car is seized, then due process certainly requires at least the same promptness when a person is themselves locked…
Documented NY: Immigrants Held in Detention for Months Without a Hearing: Lawsuit
Immigrants who are detained by ICE in New York are forced to languish behind bars for weeks and months, waiting for their first appearance before a judge. The Bronx Defenders, Cardozo School of Law, and New York Civil Liberties Union – NYCLU have filed a lawsuit against ICE and the Department of Justice challenging these egregious delays in…
RAND Study on Holistic Defense in the News
A new study released today by RAND and the University of Pennsylvania Law School finds that The Bronx Defenders’ unique model of holistic defense significantly reduces incarceration rates, sentence length, and pre-trial detention, saving taxpayer dollars, without harming public safety. In total, the study estimates that The Bronx Defenders has saved its clients 1.1 million…
NY Daily News: Public defender groups calling for major criminal justice reforms by state
New York witnessed a historic election, and it is time for it to yield historic change. We joined with our fellow New York City defender offices to call upon political leaders in Albany to pass urgent and critical criminal justice reform. In a joint letter, we joined with The Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defender Services, Neighborhood Defender Service…
City and State: Out on parole, and turning out to vote
“I believe voting is a right. I recognize that there’s a perpetual punishment system that exists. And for me, voting is fundamental to attacking that and addressing that and dismantling that.” Our Wesley Caines, Re-Entry and Community Outreach Coordinator, on voting while out on parole. Read more here
City Limits: Low Pay for Public Defenders and Prosecutors Seen as Threat to Justice
“Pay disparity in public defense disproportionately affects aspiring defenders from the communities that we serve…As we are all aware, low-income Black, Latinx, and Indigenous people are overwhelmingly overrepresented in the court systems as defendants, and incredibly underrepresented as defenders. ” Our Shannon Cumberbatch, Director of Hiring and Diversity, testified before the New York City Council on…
NPR: County Officials Shutting ICE Out Of Local Jails
“Families and lawyers and their community are here. And the separation from those resources is critical to enabling detainees to actually win their cases and remain permanently in the United States or obtain release on bond,” says Ryan Brewer, our Supervising Attorney for Immigration. Read the entire transcript here
Rise Magazine: Uplifting Every Voice
“When you are powerless in a system that is tearing your family apart, you hold on to any little ray of hope. My hope and strength came from my boys and the deep and instinctual knowledge that I, as their mother, could not and would not allow strangers to obliterate the years of nurture and…
Medium: When Protection Hurts
“I frequently recall one child who was asked to draw himself as a superhero. I asked him what his power would be. ‘When I grow up, my superpower is going to be to keep families together,’ he said. ‘So no kid has to go through what I am going through right now.’” As an attorney…