“Just how common, and exactly how much money the NYPD is currently taking from low-income New Yorkers, is the basis of a lawsuit filed last week against the NYPD by the Bronx Defenders…” Read the article here. For more on the lawsuit, see our case page.
As states across the country struggle to sufficiently defend the poor, why is our public-defender system in turmoil and can anything be done to reform it? Robin Steinberg, executive director of The Bronx Defenders, joins WNYC’s The Takeaway to discuss. Listen to the story here.
The NYPD regularly seizes cash, cellphones, cars, and other property during arrests. Property that is not contraband should be returned to its rightful owner when the case is dismissed or terminated unless the district attorney’s office can establish that the valuables are still needed as evidence for an appeal or another proceeding. In practice, something…
“The NYPD is illegally refusing to disclose information on civil forfeiture, according to a lawsuit to be filed Thursday. The Bronx Defenders plan to file a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit that says the NYPD won’t provide requested information on policies and procedures involving cash and property seized during arrests — which could total “tens of…
Contact: media@bronxdefenders.org August 4, 2016, New York – Today, The Bronx Defenders filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of the State of New York against the New York Police Department, arguing the department has violated New York’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) by refusing to provide relevant information pertaining to its policies and procedures…
On May 30, 2018, the court approved a settlement secured with the NYPD requiring it to turn over detailed information — for the first time — about the millions of dollars of property it seizes during arrests. The settlement resulted from a New York State Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) lawsuit filed by The Bronx…
“The Bronx District Attorney’s office has agreed to several procedures that could speed up the return of property confiscated during criminal investigations, according to new court documents… The proposed changes were spurred by a federal lawsuit filed in January by The Bronx Defenders.” Read the article here. For more on the lawsuit, see our case page.
Contact: media@bronxdefenders.org July 26, 2016, New York – The City of New York and The Bronx Defenders have requested a six-month stay of the federal class action lawsuit Encarnacion v. City of New York after the Bronx District Attorney’s Office agreed to implement a series of reforms to ensure the NYPD promptly releases personal property…
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The essence of any police body-worn camera program should be the need for increased police accountability. Economically marginalized communities, particularly communities of color, have long been over-policed, subjecting their residents to degrees of state oversight and intervention that would never be tolerated in suburban communities. Examples of this have included so-called “broken windows policing,” recently discredited…
The New York Police Department (NYPD) is planning a large body-worn camera (BWC) experiment involving 1,000 cameras at precincts all over the City, and is seeking public input to develop the policies that will guide officers using the cameras. This pilot program emerged in part from the class action lawsuits in which the court found the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk…
Filed on March 28, 2012, this federal class action lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of Operation Clean Halls, a part of the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk program that allows police officers to patrol thousands of private apartments buildings across New York City. As far back as the early 1990s, Operation Clean Halls has enabled police officers to patrol…
On August 9, 2018, The Bronx Defenders along with Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady, LLP and Morrison & Foerster, LLP secured a settlement in Trowbridge v. DiFiore on behalf of New Yorkers who are affected by systematic delays in the processing of misdemeanor cases in the Bronx. According to the terms of the agreement, the…
The NYPD routinely confiscates cash, cell phones, and other personal property from people arrested in New York—particularly impacting people in the low-income communities targeted by broken windows policing, who can least afford it. A City budget document states that NYPD retained $7 million in unclaimed cash and property auction proceeds as revenue in fiscal…
“The NYPD’s practice of refusing to release money and property allegedly tied to criminal activity is slated to become the subject of a federal class action lawsuit. A Bronx law firm, which sued the city in January over its civil forfeiture policy, amended the complaint Friday to add more plaintiffs who said they were unable…
“Kaleb Hagos was arrested by police on September 23rd, 2015, and had $2,931.68 in cash confiscated, along with an iPhone he was carrying in his pocket. Since then, the case against him has been terminated, and his lawyers at the Bronx Defenders have repeatedly tried to retrieve his phone and money—but to date, the Bronx…
Contact: media@bronxdefenders.org The Bronx Defenders Seeks Class Cert. in Property Retrieval Suit June 3rd, 2016, New York – The Bronx Defenders filed an amended complaint today in Encarnacion v. City of New York, and will ask a federal judge to grant class certification in their lawsuit challenging the NYPD’s unconstitutional practice of retaining people’s property…
The Bronx Defenders is proud to congratulate Runa Rajagopal, director of our Civil Action Practice, for receiving a 2016 New York City Bar Association Legal Services Award! Runa was one of five honorees who received this distinguished award for her outstanding work and dedication as a public defender. The Legal Services Awards were established to recognize the efforts…
Our Executive Director, Robin Steinberg, published the following piece in Daily News about our lawsuit challenging systemic court delay in the Bronx. “This situation constitutes nothing short of a constitutional crisis. People in the poorest borough in New York, with the highest percentage of black and Latino residents, are being forced to choose between returning to…
Karume James, a staff attorney in our Criminal Defense Practice, published the following piece in The Huffington Post about the need for reduced fare MetroCards for low-income New Yorkers and the impact such a program would have on our clients. “Among the many “broken windows” cases we get at The Bronx Defenders, I’ve always found arrests for…
The New York Times Editorial Board weighs in on Trowbridge et al., v. Cuomo et al, our federal lawsuit challenging the epidemic of court delays in the Bronx Criminal Court. “This Dickensian nightmare is all too common in the Bronx, according to a class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday in Federal District Court by the Bronx Defenders,…
“Public defenders in the Bronx filed a lawsuit Tuesday against lawmakers in New York. They charge that courts are chronically understaffed, jeopardizing the right to a speedy trial for many defendants.” Listen to the story here. For more on the lawsuit, see our press release.
“Court delays in the Bronx — so troublesome that state officials had to create special courts to clear a backlog of felony cases — remain unresolved and have “fatally undermined the right to trial” for tens of thousands of people charged each year with low-level offenses, according to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday.” Read the article…
On May 12, 2016, Annie Pineda, Director of Pro Bono at The Bronx Defenders, will speak at the 2016 Equal Justice Conference in a panel entitled “Getting to Know You, Getting to Know All about You: What Legal Services Organizations and Law Firms Should Know about Working Together.” From the organizers: “This session will offer insider…
Contact: media@bronxdefenders.org Broken System Undermines Right to Speedy Trial and Due Process for Thousands of People Charged with Low-Level Offenses, Causing Significant Social and Economic Hardships NEW YORK (May 10, 2016) – A federal class action lawsuit was filed today against Governor Andrew Cuomo and the administrators of New York State’s Unified Court System for…