Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark will host an amnesty event on Saturday, August 5th, 2017, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Eastchester Presbyterian Church in the Bronx to give New Yorkers an opportunity to clear up open warrants for low-level summonses without fear of arrest. Attorneys and advocates from The Bronx Defenders…
July 25, 2017, New York – In response to the introduction of S4841, a bill that would remove “turnstile jumping” from the NY penal code, The Bronx Defenders issued the following statement. The bill was introduced by Senator Jesse Hamilton at a press conference this morning. “Subway and bus transportation are basic needs to live…
“There has never been any vehicle for public accountability—the police department has vigorously resisted it. Finally, there will be some measure of accountability.”—Craig Levine, the policy director at The Bronx Defenders. Levine speaks with the Gothamist about the importance of the recent bill passed by the City Council that will require the NYPD to annually…
July 20, 2017, New York – In response to the passage of Intro 1000-B, a law requiring the NYPD to report on seized property data on an annual basis, The Bronx Defenders issued the following statement: “The passage of this bill marks an important victory for our clients and countless other New Yorkers disproportionately affected…
July 20, 2017, New York – In response to the passage of Intro 214b, a law providing free legal representation to low-income New Yorkers facing eviction, The Bronx Defenders issued the following statement: “After years of advocating for full funding to ensure this basic protection for low-income New Yorkers, we are thrilled to see that…
“When you have entire households in the South Bronx surviving on less than $10,000 a year, the real crime is to continue punishing people who can’t afford a MetroCard. Policies like this only compound poverty and structural inequalities in New York City.” —Alice Fontier, managing director of the criminal defense practice at The Bronx Defenders….
New Yorker writer Jonathan Blitzer visited BxD to speak with our client Christian Yarleque about his experience in immigration detention. Mr. Yarleque, a long-time New York resident with a green card, spent over a year and a half in ICE custody before being reunited with his wife and children. His story highlights the human cost…
“The court has rightly recognized that low-income people should not be held in immigration detention with no end in sight while their case is pending, simply because they cannot afford to pay an immigration bond. By ruling that ability to pay must be taken into consideration when determining a bond amount, the court is ensuring…
Last Friday, June 2, we hosted our annual Celebration of Families, welcoming 21 of our clients’ families to The Bronx Defenders’ Justice Campus for an evening of celebration. Every year we hold this intimate gathering to honor the families we have served through our Family Defense Practice and mark June as National Reunification Month. After…
WNYC reports on the recent compromise reached in Albany by the New York Senate Codes Committee regarding speedy trial reform. As Scott Levy, special counsel to the criminal defense practice at The Bronx Defenders, tells WNYC, the new bill “falls short of structural change” but is a “significant step” toward larger changes. We remain committed…
“As a former judge, I know firsthand the importance of having an attorney in court proceedings. Nonlawyers are rarely able to protect properly their own legal rights. Immigration proceedings are no less important or complicated than criminal ones. Yet immigrants who cannot afford an attorney are not provided one. New York City has sought to…
We are very excited to welcome our 2017 summer interns! The Bronx Defenders internship program gives students the opportunity to experience and learn client-centered, holistic advocacy through hands-on work with our interdisciplinary advocates. This summer BxD is hosting a total of 84 interns, including 61 law school students from 23 different schools who will undergo…
“New York’s court system is finally pushing back against the NYPD’s refusal to provide better accounting of its forfeiture programs.” Techdirt on the most recent development in our lawsuit challenging lack of transparency in NYPD property seizures. Read the article here. For more on the lawsuit, click here.
The Bronx Defenders is proud to congratulate Emma Ketteringham, managing director of our Family Defense Practice, for being selected to be a Wasserstein Public Interest Fellow at Harvard Law School for the 2017-2018 academic year. Emma is one of a select few from across the country and around the world to be awarded this honor…
“Displeased by the New York City Police Department’s ‘troublesome’ litigation tactics, a state judge refused to dismiss a lawsuit seeking information on what happens to millions of ‘unclaimed’ dollars seized in civil forfeitures.” Courthouse News Service on the latest development in our lawsuit challenging lack of transparency in NYPD property seizures. Read the article here….
In this investigation, ProPublica demonstrates the benefits and importance of having access to free legal representation during deportation proceedings. As our client Romniel shared with the reporter, being picked up by ICE “was like a nightmare.” He continued, “It’s very important to have a lawyer to defend yourself, because I didn’t know anything about immigration…
“Under Mayor de Blasio’s proposal someone like me would not deserve free immigration representation. I believe this is cruel and unfair. No one should be judged by a single mistake. Life is hard in the city and even the best people make mistakes. New York City is my home. It is where my children were…
May 4, 2017, New York – In response to the ongoing debate between Mayor de Blasio and Speaker Mark-Viverito regarding City funding for the New York Immigrant Family Project (NYIFUP), The Bronx Defenders, one of three NYIFUP providers, issued the following statement: “At a time when we should be radically reimagining what it means to be…
On April 24, 2017, Runa Rajagopal, director of The Bronx Defenders’ Civil Action Practice, presented written and oral testimony before the New York City Council Committees on Public Housing and Oversight and Investigations regarding a new report by the New York City Department of Investigation’s (DOI) on the New York City Housing Authority’s (NYCHA) policy…
“Oklahoma is sending the highest recorded number of women to prison, but a new non-profit program based in north Tulsa is trying to buck that trend. The group, Still She Rises, is a team of attorneys that works specifically for low-income mothers in north Tulsa, representing them for free.” BxD’s latest project, Still She Rises,…
“What we knew initially was that we wanted to create a holistic law defender law office that could represent women in the criminal justice system, recognizing that Oklahoma is the No. 1 state for incarceration for women.” – BxD Executive Director Robin Steinberg speaking with Tulsa World about our new project, Still She Rises, Tulsa….
Is the City of New York doing everything it can to ensure safety and due process for immigrant communities? In this interview with The New Yorker, BxD Managing Director, Justine Olderman had a simple answer: “Unless we take immediate steps to protect immigrants who seek redress in our city’s courts, we should stop calling ourselves…
“Allowing ICE to use the city’s court system to trap immigrants is immoral. If New York City is to live up to its promise as a sanctuary city, there can be no place for federal deportation forces in our courts.” Op-ed by BxD’s Justine Olderman for the New York Daily News. Read the piece here.
March 21, 2017, New York –The Bronx Defenders has asked the NY Supreme Court to compel the NYPD to appear at a hearing to explain its property seizure database and to produce internal records about policies and procedures involving millions of dollars in cash and property seized during arrests each year. The Bronx Defenders sued…
Erin Cloud, a supervising attorney of our Family Defense Practice, writes a Letter to the Editor to Stacy Patton to clarify the ways in which the disproportionate reporting of black families to the child protective services is reflective of economic injustice and racial inequality of low income families rather than about their actual parenting. “Increased…