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…
New York Daily News: Bronx Freedom Fund seeks to show other groups how to post bail for needy defendants
The difference between being saddled with a criminal record and keeping one’s profile clean often comes down to a person’s ability to come up with bail money, a new report from The Bronx Freedom Fund shows. The fund, launched in 2007 and reopened in October 2013, four years after a judge ordered it to cease…
Bronx News 12: Bronx Defenders hold block party in Melrose
Bronx News 12 featured The Bronx Defenders 2014 Community Block Party. To see the article click here.
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…
Graham + West blog interview with Robin Steinberg on changing the criminal justice system
Robin Steinberg: On Changing the Criminal Justice System Robin Steinberg is founder and executive director of the Bronx Defenders, a public defender organization in the Bronx, New York City. Started in 1997 with a team of 8, The Bronx Defenders pioneered a new model for public defense, dubbed “holistic defense,” and today handles approximately 30,000…
Juvenile Justice Information Exchange: Bronx Workshop Underlines Troubled Relationship Between Youth of Color and NYPD
NEW YORK — At first glance, the classroom in the Betances Community Center in the South Bronx last night appeared like a typical children’s classroom. A stuffed lion with a smile sewn into his mouth sat atop an emergency aid kit. A paper cut-out of a grinning fish held a sign with a self-esteem boosting…
Huffington Post’s The Blog: Posting Bail for the Poorest of the Poor
Former Bronx Defenders Trial Chief, David Feige, writes about bail challenges and the successes of The Bronx Freedom Fund in Huffington Post’s The Blog: $500 makes all the difference. For thousands of indigent criminal defendants in New York City, $500 is all that stands between weeks on Riker’s Island and being branded with a criminal conviction,…
WNYC: Bailing Out Those Who Can’t Make Bail
WNYC interviews The Bronx Defenders’ Robin Steinberg about bail inequity and the work of The Bronx Freedom Fund. (more…)
Al Jazeera America: Unreasonable Search of Cell Phones: Supreme Court to Decide on Privacy
The Bronx Defenders’ Kumar Rao is quoted in Al Jazeera America regarding concerns over unreasonable searches and seizures.
(more…)
Riverfront Times: ArchCity Defenders – Meet the legal superheroes fighting for St. Louis’ downtrodden
Excerpt: “Five years ago Harvey and two law-school buddies — Michael-John Voss and John McAnnar — founded ArchCity Defenders, a nonprofit with a mission to rescue those caught up in this legal morass. But more than just offering legal aid to the indigent, ArchCity Defenders works to help its clients improve their overall lives, be…
The Albert Cobarrubias Justice Project Blog: Bronx Defenders and the Feng Shui of Public Defense
The Albert Cobarrubias Justice Project writes about The Bronx Defenders Justice Campus: It’s not often lawyers at a public defender’s office are excited to show you around their building. And that’s usually for good reason – you’ve seen one defender office, you’ve seen them all. A lobby with a bullet proof glass window clients approach…
NY1 Online: Advocates Weigh In on Police-Community Relationships
Inside City Hall asked a panel of advocates – Kate Rubin, the managing director of civil action practice for the legal organization “The Bronx Defenders”; Rashad Robinson, the executive director of the advocacy group “Color of Change”; Babe Howell, an associate professor at CUNY’s School of Law; and Fahd Ahmed, the legal and policy director…
NPR: Not Guilty Verdict Can Still Lead To Ruined Lives
The criminal justice system can sometimes feed the poverty cycle, even for people who are eventually found not guilty. The Bronx Defenders is helping low-income defendants navigate the justice system.
NPR’s Tell Me More program interviews Executive Director Robin Steinberg and a Bronx Defenders client about the impact of our work at The Bronx Defenders.
(more…)
City Limits: Will New York Follow Texas In Criminal Justice Reform?
Alberto Ramos was a 21-year-old college student and part-time substitute teacher’s aide, aspiring to be a teacher, when he was accused and then convicted in 1985 of raping a five-year-old in the Bronx day-care center where he worked. In a case based largely on the child’s sworn testimony, Ramos was accused of taking a girl…
Noticias Mundo Fox: Así funciona esta ayuda legal para personas indocumentadas en EE.UU.
De esta manera un grupo de personas en proceso de deportación están recibiendo ayuda legal para su condición en EE.UU. (more…)
Noticias Mundo Fox: Indocumentados en proceso de deportación son ayudados por defensores públicos en Nueva York
Un proyecto que se adelanta en la ciudad de Nueva York ayuda a cientos de indocumentados de escasos recursos a que no sean deportados. (more…)
San Jose Mercury News: ‘Holistic’ criminal defense gains footing in Bay Area
California is no stranger to holistic medicine, holistic massage or holistic music (think soothing nature sounds). There’s even a pet store in Berkeley called the Holistic Hound. Now comes a new twist on the notion — holistic criminal defense. Touchy-feely as it may sound, none other than the U.S. Department of Justice is supporting efforts…
Michael Oppenheimer and Bronx Defenders client interviewed on ABC’s Here and Now
Watch Criminal Defense Practice Supervisor Michael Oppenheimer and Bronx Defenders client James Broadus on ABC’s ‘Here and Now’ discussing Holistic Defense, the work of the organization, and the impact of the Bronx Freedom Fund. ‘Here and Now’ is a weekly one hour program, airing on ABC in New York City, dedicated to covering the issues and…
WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show: Discussing Mayor de Blasio’s Crime Record (Two Months In) with Robin Steinberg and Murray Weiss
Brian Lehrer, of WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show, discusses crime rates, policing strategies, and criminal justice policy in New York City during Mayor Bill de Blasio’s first months in office with Murray Weiss, criminal justice reporter and editor for DNAInfo, and with The Bronx Defenders’ Robin Steinberg. Listen to the full segment on WNYC here.