Category: In the News
New York Daily News: Have a sealed arrest in NYC? You may now be in a class action suit against the NYPD
“A case challenging the NYPD’s access to sealed arrests is now a class action lawsuit that could involve millions of people, a judge ruled Thursday. The Bronx Defenders, which filed the suit, said the decision by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Lyle Frank is a sign the NYPD should reform its rules regarding arrests that were […]
The Appeal: What’s Not To Love About The NYPD Slowdown?
“The Daily Appeal spoke to Alice Fontier, the managing director of the criminal defense practice at The Bronx Defenders. I asked Fontier about how the slowdown has played out in criminal court in the Bronx, one of the most heavily policed counties in the country. Over the last few months, Fontier said, there had been at […]
Doin’ the Work: Defending Families Facing Child Removal – Asia Piña, MSW
“In this episode, I talk with Asia Piña, who is an Early Defense Social Worker for the Family Defense Practice at Bronx Defenders, in the Bronx, New York. Asia explains how she works with a team of social workers, parent advocates, and attorneys to best defend parents who are being charged with abuse and neglect […]
Biometric Update: NYPD accused of violating best practices and law with DNA and facial biometrics databases
“Critics warn that the NYPD is not only violating privacy rights and civil liberties, but it is also not complying with a state law passed in 1976. The law says that when an investigation “is terminated in a person’s favor or results in a non-criminal violation,” all records are to be “sealed” and genetic material […]
The Champion: Challenging Facial Recognition Software in Criminal Court
Federal agencies and high profile investigations are not the only places where facial recognition software (“FRS”) is being used. State and local law enforcement agencies employ FRS in investigations that range from serious to relatively mundane. FRS has been used to pinpoint suspects in cases as routine as drug sales, petty theft, robbery, and identity theft. […]
One Zero EXCLUSIVE: The NYPD Is Using Sealed Mug Shots in Its Facial Recognition Program
“In November 2018, Claire Mauksch, a lawyer with the public defenders’ organization Bronx Defenders, picked up a felony case that struck her as odd. The previous day, a suspect had been arrested on felony robbery charges for an incident that had taken place two years prior. There was little information in the file to show […]
New York Times: A Child Bumps Her Head. What Happens Next Depends on Race
“When a child experiences a mild head injury and a parent seeks medical attention, what happens next in New York City seems to depend on the ZIP code and the color of the parent’s skin. In April, the actress Jenny Mollen, wife of the actor Jason Biggs and resident of Manhattan’s affluent West Village, announced on […]
The Crime Report: How Do Prosecutors (and the Rest of Us) Get Sentencing So Wrong?
“And all of these players are buffeted simultaneously by external environmental factors: caseloads rise, budgets fall, treatment programs close, spasmodic media pressure ratchets up, options narrow. Sentences may be driven by prosecutors, but they are also influenced by defenders. For example, a recent study makes clear that the Bronx Defenders’ self-consciously “holistic” approach managed to significantly bend […]
The Appeal: ‘Is This The Guy?’
“The NYPD also claimed that it was exempt from disclosing information about its facial recognition technology because doing so could imperil future investigations. It argued that because the department is only a user—not the creator—of the software, any disclosure would violate state protections of its partner’s trade secrets. Alice Fontier, The Bronx Defenders’s Criminal Defense […]
The City: Some Teen Detainees Still Treated Like Adults, Or Worse, Despite ‘Raise The Age’
“The courts’ lack of preparedness for the new youth arraignments are on stark display at Bronx Supreme Court. Teens in The Bronx who do make it to arraignment at the youth part are publicly marched in, cuffed or shackled, right through the front doors, THE CITY found. “Any kid that’s walked in during the day […]