The Atlantic: How Treatment Courts Can Reduce Crime
Court-mandated substance-abuse treatment programs can keep people out of prison and save tax-payer dollars, so why aren’t they being utilized? When I first met my client, he was sitting on the other side of a metal grate (The client’s name has been withheld because of attorney-client confidentiality). We were in the cells behind the arraignment…
Robin Steinberg to speak at UCLA School of Law on November 3
Next Monday, November 3, 2014, Robin Steinberg, Bronx Defenders Executive Director, will be speaking at UCLA School of Law. Her talk, “Perspectives on Holistic Criminal Defense – The Bronx Defenders and the Growing Community Defender Movement,” is presented by the The David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy and co-sponsored by the Critical Race Studies…
The Bronx Defenders releases its report “Voices From the Box: Solitary Confinement at Rikers Island”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 12, 2014 Contact: Skylar Albertson, The Bronx Defenders, (347) 842-1215, SkylarA@bronxdefenders.org Voices From the Box: Solitary Confinement at Rikers Island New York – The Bronx Defenders released a report summarizing the experiences of 59 current and former clients who were subjected to extreme isolation in solitary confinement at Rikers Island. The…
Join us for The Bronx Defenders 2014 Summer Benefit on July 15th!
SAVE THE DATE The Bronx Defenders invites you to the 2014 SUMMER BENEFIT The South Cabana at The Maritime Hotel Tuesday, July 15th | 7:00 pm | 88 Ninth Avenue, New York City (entrance is at the corner of 16th Street & Ninth Avenue) Please join us on this summer evening to enjoy cocktails and…
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…
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.
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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…
New York Times: Helping Poor Defendants Post Bail in Backlogged Bronx
In October, James Broadus II, then 31, was arrested in Co-op City, the Bronx, and charged with petty larceny and assault. He was accused of taking a book bag from one man and choking another. A judge set bail at $1,000. But Mr. Broadus, who had been working odd jobs, had no savings. His closest…
The Bronx Defenders Announces the Release of “A Marijuana Arrest” on BuzzFeed
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 9, 2013 Contact: Molly Kovel, The Bronx Defenders, (718) 508-3421 The Bronx Defenders Announces the Release of “A Marijuana Arrest” on BuzzFeed “A Marijuana Arrest” is a short film collaboration between filmmakers Julie Dressner and Jesse Hicks and advocates from The Bronx Defenders. Bronx, NY – The Bronx Defenders announces BuzzFeed’s…
Buzzfeed: How A Small-Time Marijuana Arrest Has Devastated A Great Teacher’s Life
Watch Bronx Defenders Attorneys Phil Hamilton, Molly Kovel and Scott Levy interviewed in a Buzzfeed documentary regarding their representation of client Alberto Willmore.
The Takeaway: Happy Thanksgiving From The Takeaway!
This Thanksgiving The Takeaway brings you some great conversations from the last year and an hour of pioneering female voices. First, a conversation between Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and our host John Hockenberry offers an insight into the incredible career of Justice Ginsburg. Next you will hear from Robin Steinberg, founder and director…
NY Daily News: ‘Bronx Freedom Fund’ Pays Bail So Poor Misdemeanor Defendants Can Avoid Jail Time
Bronx residents who can’t make their bail now have a financial backer who can help them avoid jail time. The Bronx Freedom Fund has already helped five cash-strapped defendants charged with misdemeanor crimes avoid pretrial detention since it launched last week. Clients, many of whom have no prior arrests and face minor drug charges, are…
The New York Law Journal: The Bronx Defenders and Robin Steinberg
The Bronx Defenders, with a staff of about 200 advocates, provides support and services inside and outside the courtroom to more than 30,000 clients year. The Bronx Defenders notes that one in three people arrested are never convicted of a crime, yet they suffer drastic collateral consequences from their arrest alone. Up to 40 percent…
New York Times: In Misdemeanor Cases, Long Waits for Elusive Trials
Francisco Zapata keeps a copy of the Constitution on his cellphone. So when the police stopped, frisked and charged him with misdemeanor marijuana possession, he wanted what that cellphone document promised. “I was under the assumption,” he said, “that if I kept going back to court, eventually I would get my day in court.” But…
Criminal Justice Matters on CUNY TV: Equal Justice for All? Life After Gideon
The right to a lawyer, regardless of whether you can afford it, has been a cornerstone of American justice for 50 years, ever since a landmark US Supreme Court ruling in 1963. But thousands of Americans–and New Yorkers—still can’t exercise that right. New York State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman discusses what our courts and politicians…
Huffington Post’s The Blog: Exonerated, but Not Yet Free
Eighteen years ago, Carlos Perez was playing with his two-year-old son on a South Bronx stoop when a group of police officers drove up and shouted, “Freeze!” Carlos was handcuffed, arrested, and charged with murdering a cab driver and a Fed-Ex worker in the Bronx. He was eventually convicted and sentenced to 50 years to…
South Bronx Podcast Series: A Sidewalk Strip Search
The NYPD stopped, searched, and humiliated Angel Aviles and his wife last summer — for no reason. In this episode, Angel tells his story. He now advocates for police reform with the Bronx Defenders Organizing Project (www.bronxdefenders.org). Recording, editing, and production by Joanna Zuckerman Bernstein. Music by Brotmond, Cydonia Pianoversion.
South Bronx Podcast Series: Levele Pointer, “I felt totally violated”
Levele Pointer, South Bronx resident, member of the Bronx Defenders Organizing Project and a NYHRE peer educator, shares his stories of getting stopped and frisked in New York City. This is the first in a series of South Bronx stories about the harmful impact on individuals and communities of discriminatory police practices. Recording, editing, and…
New York Times: Video of Police Encounter May Play Lead Role in Lawsuit
The man, Luis Solivan, 19, was later charged with assaulting an officer, but his case was dismissed after a grand jury watched the video, which an acquaintance shot through an apartment window in the Bronx, his lawyers say. Now, that same footage may emerge as crucial evidence in a civil rights lawsuit that Mr. Solivan’s…