The Bronx Defenders’ Skylar Albertson Delivers Testimony at Solitary Confinement Hearing
On Thursday, June 12th, 2014, The Bronx Defenders’ Skylar Albertson delivered testimony at the Joint Meeting of the Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice Services and the Committee on Mental Health, Development Disability, Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, and Disability Services Solitary Confinement Hearing. Since January, Albertson and Social Work Intern Leah Baez have conducted 23 interviews with…
Brooklyn middle school students visit BXD to practice their trial skills
Yesterday afternoon The Bronx Defenders welcomed a group of 20 middle schoolers from the LAUNCH Expeditionary Learning Charter School in Brooklyn to our Justice Campus to read aloud closing arguments they had prepared and to receive feedback from a panel of Bronx Defenders attorneys and summer interns. The students’ field trip was inspired by their reading of Walter…
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…
The Bronx Defenders welcomes our 2014 summer interns!
We are very excited to welcome our summer 2014 interns today! Over the course of the next 10 weeks, 52 law school students and 15 college students from over 25 different schools will work together with attorneys and advocates in our Family Defense Practice, Criminal Defense Practice, Civil Action Practice, Immigration Practice, Policy & Community…
The Bronx Defenders Completes its 2014 Defenders’ Academy Spring Training Program!
Today wrapped up the sixth and final day The Bronx Defenders 2014 Defenders’ Academy Spring Training! Over the course of the past week, 78 participants from over 20 different organizations – ranging from public defender offices to private firms to the U.S. military – have participated in an intensive trial skills program designed to strengthen…
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.
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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…
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.
Jenay Nurse to lead breakout session at CUNY’s 3rd Annual Supporting Excellence Conference
On March 14, 2014, Jenay Nurse, Director of The Bronx Defenders Adolescent Defense Project, will facilitate a breakout session at CUNY’s 3rd Annual Supporting Excellence Conference. Jenay will lead a discussion entitled “Utilizing a Holistic Defense Model to Address the Problems Faced by Teens who are Prosecuted as Adults.” From CUNY: This year, the Supporting Excellence…
Mark Loudon-Brown to lead panel at NYSACDL Cross Examination CLE
On April 4, 2014, Criminal Defense Practice Supervisor Mark Loudon-Brown will lead a panel at the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers ‘Cross to Kill’ CLE. The panel will discuss strategies and techniques related to cross examining DNA experts at trial. From NYSACDL: The introduction of scientific and medical witnesses and evidence present…
Robin Steinberg is the keynote speaker for the 2014 RebLaw Conference at Yale Law School
Robin Steinberg, Founder and Executive Director of The Bronx Directors, is delivering the keynote address at the 2014 RebLaw Conference at Yale Law School. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the annual Rebellious Lawyering Conference. RebLaw is the nation’s largest student-run public interest conference. Every year the conference brings together practitioners, law students, and…
New York Times: Conflicting Expectations for Bratton’s Second Tour
In the 1990s, a time of vexing homicide rates in cities across the country, William J. Bratton left the New York Police Department and began marketing the crime-fighting techniques he had deployed so successfully here to other municipalities struggling with rampant disorder. At the time, business and civic leaders in Birmingham, Ala., brought him on…
Safer and Stronger: The Bronx Defenders Policy Recommendations for Community Safety in the Bronx
Safer and Stronger: Policy Recommendations for Community Safety in the Bronx Download the PDF here: The Bronx Defenders – Safer and Stronger 2014 The Bronx Defenders provides holistic and client-centered criminal defense, family defense, immigration defense, civil legal services, social work support, and community advocacy to indigent people of the Bronx. Our staff of over 200 represents 35,000…
Conversations with Allan Wolper: Allan talks with Robin Steinberg
Allan Wolper is known as a “journalist’s journalist.” A superb interviewer, reporter, documentary producer and ethics columnist, he has been honored by every journalism medium. Wolper has won over 50 awards, including, television’s prestigious Alfred I. duPont/Columbia University Award – the Pulitzer Prize of broadcast news. Click here to listen to Allan interview our Executive…
Gothamist: How The NYPD’s Use Of Civil Forfeiture Robs Innocent New Yorkers
In the middle of the night in March of 2012, NYPD officers burst into the Bronx home of Gerald Bryan, ransacking his belongings, tearing out light fixtures, punching through walls, and confiscating $4,800 in cash. Bryan, 42, was taken into custody on suspected felony drug distribution, as the police continued their warrantless search. Over a…
Huffington Post: Bronx Schools Reduce Policing and Suspensions With Support From Parents
Bronx, NY — On Saturday, November 16th, members of the Bronx School Justice coalition held a public report back on a year’s worth of work to reduce punitive disciplinary measures in Bronx public schools. Instead they are advocating for the use of restorative justice practices and positive disciplinary alternatives in schools. Nearly 120 community members…
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…
Screening: “The House I Live In”
Join us for a FREE screening of the award winning documentary, The House I Live In. Tuesday, December 3, 2013 at 6 PM Abundant Life Church 650 Washington Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11238 View the event flyer. Following the screening will be a panel discussion with: Assemblyman Karim Camera, District 43 Soffiyah Elijah, Executive Director, Correctional Association…
The Bronx Defenders now provides services to over 35,000 clients each year
Our contract with New York City’s Office of the Criminal Justice Coordinator was recently amended to include representation in ‘conflicts’ cases. These are criminal cases with more than one suspect or defendant involved in related criminal proceedings. The interests of one may ‘conflict’ with another and so separate counsel is assigned. We will eventually handle…
Emma Ketteringham spoke at the 2013 International Drug Policy Reform Conference in Denver, CO on October 26th, 2013
On Saturday, October 26th, Emma Ketteringham, Managing Attorney of the Bronx Defenders’ Family Defense Practice, was a panelist for a roundtable discussion on the drug war’s impact on the criminal justice system during the 2013 International Drug Policy Reform Conference. The International Drug Policy Reform Conference is an event that happens every two years with…
MintPress News: Does Bail Really Work To Promote Justice?
Former U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy once said: “What has been demonstrated here is that usually only one factor determines whether a defendant stays in jail before he comes to trial. That factor is not guilt or innocence. It is not the nature of the crime. It is not the character of the defendant. That…
New York Times: New, Young Help for Poor in Infamous Bronx Courts
On a recent afternoon in the South Bronx, Cordice Smith, a 79-year-old Korean War veteran wearing a Yankees hat, was standing in the tiled lobby of his apartment building — something he no longer takes for granted. Earlier this year, he almost lost his home after receiving a letter from his landlord’s lawyer: an eviction…
The Bronx Defenders Wins the National Legal Aid and Defender Association’s 2013 Clara Shortridge Foltz Award
The Bronx Defenders is thrilled to announce that it will receive the National Legal Aid and Defender Association’s 2013 Clara Shortridge Foltz Award for its work pioneering holistic defense in the South Bronx. The Bronx Defenders is deeply grateful for the award and honored to be recognized as one of the many defender offices that…