Know Your Rights: Police Encounters & Misconduct
Police Encounters & Misconduct 1. When can police stop me on the street? In theory, the police cannot stop you on the street without reason. A New York State Court of Appeals case (People v. DeBour 40 N.Y. 2d 210) established four levels of street encounters between police and people, and allows a different “Permissible…
Know Your Rights: Voting Rights and Civic Participation
Voting Rights and Civic Participation Civic participation includes all the ways citizens participate in the democratic process. It includes the right to vote, serve on a jury, and run for elected office. Voting Rights In New York State, as long as you are a U.S. citizen 18 or older, you can vote unless you are currently in…
Know Your Rights: Parental Rights
Parental Rights 1. Can I lose my parental rights if I am convicted of a crime? Only very serious criminal convictions against a child – like murder and manslaughter – require the state to sue to terminate your parental rights. 2. Can I lose my parental rights if I am sentenced to prison or a residential treatment…
Know Your Rights: Records of Arrest and Prosecution
Records of Arrest and Prosecution If you have been convicted, or even arrested, for a crime, there is a record of it, often in many places at once. The court where you were sentenced maintains records of your criminal case, and those are public information available to credit reporting agencies. A record of your arrests…
Know Your Rights: Government Benefits and Education Loans
Government Benefits and Education Loans If you are a New York State resident you can apply for and receive government benefits like Food Stamps, Medicaid, TANF and cash assistance, no matter how many convictions you may have on your rap sheet. However, arrest and incarceration can temporarily affect your government benefits and your eligibility for…
Know Your Rights: Housing and Arrests or Criminal Convictions
Housing and Reentry A criminal history can affect your eligibility for both public housing and, if a landlord conducts a background check, private housing. An arrest – even before anyone is found guilty – can often trigger eviction of you or your entire household from public or private housing. Federally Subsidized Housing (NYCHA & Section…
Know Your Rights: Employment & Criminal Convictions
Employment & Reentry 1. An employer said it wouldn’t hire me because it doesn’t hire anyone with a criminal record. Is that legal? No. Employers must consider each person as an individual. Refusing to hire all people with criminal records violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Law of 1964, the New York State Corrections…
Know Your Rights: Special Information for Non-Citizens
Non-citizens involved in the criminal justice system confront additional and severe civil consequences. Even if you have lived in the United States for a long time or if you have ties to the U.S. and family here, guilty pleas and convictions can lead to an immediate detention and the initiation of deportation (also called “removal”)…
Know Your Rights: What is Reentry & What are Collateral Consequences?
The term “reentry” is used by many advocates, service providers, policy-makers, and formerly incarcerated people to define what happens to people coming home from prison. More broadly, it describes a process of reintegration, rehabilitation, and restoration of rights that should begin when an individual is arrested. “Collateral consequences,” is a popular label for the legal,…