Category: In the News

NBC 4 New York: Low-Level Suspects Seriously Hurt

An investigation by NBC 4 New York’s partners at WNYC shows that it’s not uncommon for low-level arrests to spiral dangerously out of control – in some cases leaving people accused of minor offenses seriously hurt. Chris Glorioso reports. The Bronx Defenders Robin Steinberg comments on disproportionate use of force in low-level arrests in New York City. To […]

WNYC: When ‘Broken Windows’ Leads to Busted Heads

WNYC’s Robert Lewis investigates the NYPD’s embrace of the “broken windows” theory in the wake of the recent death of Staten Island resident Eric Garner. The Bronx Defenders Executive Director Robin Steinberg is interviewed to shed light on these issues. Many across New York are still struggling to understand how Eric Garner — the Staten Island […]

HuffPost Live: Kumar Rao interviewed on death of Eric Garner and police brutality

“We need to hold the police department as a whole accountable for the culture that allows for police officers to regularly profile people of color, target them, [and] use physical force against them.” The Bronx Defenders Criminal Defense Attorney and Director of Strategic Initiatives Kumar Rao appeared on HuffPost Live last night, hosted by Ricky […]

The New York Times: Ill and in Solitary at Rikers

Read The Bronx Defenders’ Skylar Albertson’s “Letter to Editor” published in The New York Times in response to their recent article on mental illness among inmates at Rikers Island: To the Editor: “Where Mental Illness Meets Brutality in Jail” (front page, July 14) paints a horrifying but accurate picture of the abuse that mentally ill […]

TimeOut New York: 26 awesome things happening in New York this week (July 7–10)

The Bronx Defenders 2014 Community Block Party was listed among TimeOut Magazine’s “26 awesome things happening in New York” in the week of July 7, 2014. TimeOut wrote: The Bronx Defenders Community Block Party; E 160th St The Bronx Defenders are a group of real-life superheroes. They don’t need a mask and a cape, though, […]

Rise Magazine: ‘I Feel Good that I Never Gave Up!’: At National Reunification Month events, parents reflect on the long road home

For June’s National Reunification Month, organizations around the country celebrated the perseverance and resilience of parents reunifying with children from foster care and of the professionals who support them. On June 13, the family defense organization The Bronx Defenders hosted a reunification celebration, with food, face painting, performances, and families coming together to celebrate the […]

New York Times: New York City Council Expected to Approve 2 Plans Aiding Immigrants

Building upon the pilot project implemented by The Bronx Defenders, together with Brooklyn Defender Services,  over the past year, The New York City Council announces approval for renewed funding to provide legal representation to undocumented immigrants in New York City at Varick Street in Manhattan as well as in Newark and Elizabeth, N.J. A long-sought […]

New York Daily News: The city should continue to fund a program that offers legal representation to indigent immigrants facing deportation

Numbers don’t lie: More than 70% of immigrants, documented or not, who face deportation proceedings in New York City do not have legal representation, an unfair situation which practically guarantees their removal. “Without a lawyer, immigrants’ opportunity to win their deportation cases is about 3%,” said Angela Fernández, the executive director of the Northern Manhattan […]