Category: In the News
New York Daily News: Bronxites who can’t afford to pay bail for petty crimes get help from state legislature
A bill sponsored by Bronx state Senator Gustavo Rivera now headed to Governor Cuomo’s desk will allow charities to post bail for defendants charged with petty misdemeanors. Thousands of Bronxites do hard time at Rikers Island because they can’t afford to post bail. But new legislation headed to Gov. Cuomo’s desk could set them free. […]
WNYC: Alleged Illegal Searches By NYPD Rarely Challenged in Marijuana Cases
[This is the second part of a two-part series. Read the first part here.] Illegal searches are more common than people realize, but few end up getting challenged in court, law enforcement officials and defense attorneys say. Checks and balances within the criminal justice system are intended to ferret out improper arrests, but many defendants and […]
WNYC: Alleged Illegal Searches by NYPD May Be Increasing Marijuana Arrests
Police arrest 140 people every day in New York City for possessing small amounts of marijuana. It’s now by far the most common misdemeanor charge in the city, and thousands of these arrests take place when police stop-and-frisk young men in the poorest neighborhoods. While police say these stop-and-frisks are a way to find guns, […]
New York Times: Looking at the Whole Defendant
Even before she graduated from Stanford Law School in 2010, Michelle Parris knew she wanted to help people with psychiatric disabilities and take a holistic approach to defense law. She designed a project with that in mind and received a two-year Equal Justice Works fellowship and an assignment at the Bronx Defenders. Still in the […]
The Crime Report: Can the ‘Holistic Approach’ Solve The Crisis in Public Defense?
The Bronx Defenders’ method of Holistic Defense is explained in the article “Can the ‘Holistic Approach’ Solve The Crisis in Public Defense?” on thecrimereport.org. Can the ‘Holistic Approach’ Solve The Crisis in Public Defense? “Making changes in a resource-strained small county [Washoe County, Nevada] of 400,000 people seemed , however, all but impossible—until Bosler heard […]
Journeys towards Justice: Let’s make this a movement: Holistic Advocacy”
The Center for Holistic Defense, a project of The Bronx Defenders, is mentioned in the blog “Justice for all”. In the post “Let’s make this a movement: Holistic Advocacy”, blog writer Akhila Kolisetty draws from The Bronx Defenders’ new model of public defense—Holistic Defense. The blog describes the “importance and necessity of holistic advocacy, and […]
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Reforming criminal justice system needs holistic tack
Former Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court Leah Ward Sears mentioned The Bronx Defenders as a model for how public defender offices should operate! “There are proven alternatives in our state and across the country that are effective in helping people move past an arrest, address the problems that led to it, make its […]
New York Daily News: Key city players trying to help ease anxious immigrants’ worries over deportation
A new, nationwide legal task force with key city players is helping anxious immigrants who face deportation because of petty crimes they pled guilty to years ago. A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that lawyers have a constitutional obligation to inform clients they might be deported if they plead guilty has reenergized defender groups across […]
Crain’s New York Business – Report: City pays big price for minor crimes
New York City could save tens of millions of dollars a year if it did not incarcerate thousands of defendants charged with minor crimes — like hopping a turnstile, smoking marijuana in public or trespassing — before their trials, according to a new report by advocacy group Human Rights Watch. In 2008 alone, the city […]
WNYC: Report Finds Bail Set Too High for Minor Offenses
A new report finds that while each year tens of thousands of people arrested for minor offenses are released pending a trial or some other outcome, a substantial number that can’t afford bail and end up in Rikers Island for things like shoplifting, smoking marijuana or getting in fights. The report by Human Rights Watch […]