“There have been at least two dozen clients who, only through checking the portal have we learned that their individual hearings, scheduled mostly for June, have just been unilaterally rescheduled for dates as early as next week, and there has been no notice, no phone call,” says Sarah Deri Oshiro, our Managing Director of the…
The Bronx Defenders, Legal Aid Society, and Brooklyn Defender Services asked City Council for an increased budget in order to represent immigrants facing deportation at Varick Street. “The Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defender Services and Bronx Defenders will ask during a budget hearing for $16.6 million for the next fiscal year–an increase of $6.6 million.”…
New York City Council Committee on Justice System Preliminary Budget Hearing March 19, 2019 Testimony of The Bronx Defenders By Justine Olderman, Executive Director The Bronx Defenders provides innovative, holistic, and client-centered services to low-income people of the Bronx- these services include criminal defense, family defense, immigration representation, civil legal services, social work support and…
“The failed war on drugs has shown us that we cannot arrest and punish our way out of the opioid crisis. Safe injection sites are a common sense and practical way to meet people where they are, connect them to the services they need, and hopefully prevent deaths.” Avery McNeil, our Alternatives to Incarceration specialist,…
“Even if the police are giving Miranda warnings right after they hit play, it doesn’t mean they haven’t already talked to our clients about the content of the interrogation before that. And that obviously raises questions about whether pre-interrogation conversations with the police undermine the force of the Miranda rights in the first place.” Emily…
“According to immigration attorneys, the DOJ’s decision to unilaterally move up hearing dates fits a pattern and practice by federal authorities set on undermining legal representation for immigrants. They point to a similar set of decisions to implement video conferencing for detainees during hearings last year, which is now the subject of a federal lawsuit….
“NYIFUP demonstrated the importance of publicly-funded deportation defense, raising the level of practice in the court and strengthening both fairness and efficiency. The Vera Institute of Justice evaluated NYIFUP, finding that 48% of immigrants succeeded in their cases, while unrepresented immigrants in the same court were successful only 4% of the time. NYIFUP also produced other benefits…
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*** March 12, 2019 JOINT STATEMENT FROM NYIFUP LEGAL PROVIDERS ON ICE ADVANCING VARICK STREET HEARINGS WITHOUT NOTICE, EFFECTIVELY STRIPPING IMMIGRANTS OF THEIR DUE PROCESS RIGHTS (NEW YORK, NY) – The Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defender Services, and The Bronx Defenders – New York City’s defender organizations providing free legal representation through the New York Immigrant…
Crystal Baker-Burr, our Education Attorney, spoke at a City Hall press conference with Organizing For Equity on the school-to-prison pipeline and how students of color are marginalized within the education system. Her speech is transcribed below. Our School Discipline System is Broken At the Bronx Defenders, I work with young people at the end of the…
The Bronx Defenders is part of a coalition with the Fines and Fees Justice Center and National Center for Law and Economic Justice to advocate for the end of suspensions over unpaid traffic fines. Traffic enforcement is disproportionately concentrated in low-income black and Latino neighborhoods, where residents often have difficulty paying tickets. New York is one of at least…
“We can no longer accept a bail system that creates and entrenches wealth and race-based disparities and feeds mass incarceration; a speedy trial law that allows cases to languish without a realistic opportunity to have one’s day in court; or a discovery law that deprives the accused of access to the most basic information about…
“The suit alleges violations of class members’ First Amendment rights to access the courts and Fifth Amendment due process rights as well as violations of provisions of the INA guaranteeing fair hearings and access to counsel during removal proceedings and the Rehabilitation Act, which requires reasonable accommodations for those with disabilities.” Read the full article…
“The advocates, including The Bronx Defenders, Brooklyn Defender Services, the Legal Aid Society, the New York Civil Liberties Union and Citizen Action of New York, said in a statement on Monday that they are looking for ‘meaningful bail reform that protects the presumption of innocence and maximizes pretrial liberty.” Read more here
“DA Clark has rightly acknowledged the inevitability of discovery, bail, and speedy trial reform in New York. But acknowledgement of inevitability is not enough. The time for delay and foot-dragging is over,” The Bronx Defenders said in a statement. “Bronx-residents–particularly those from communities of color–have waited long enough for a criminal legal system that respects…
New York City Council Committee on Public Safety Jointly with the Committee on Justice System, the Committee on Consumer Affairs and Business Licensing Hearing re: Marijuana Legalization: Equity and Justice for NYC. February 27, 2019 Written Testimony of The Bronx Defenders By Eli Northrup, Associate Special Counsel to the Criminal Defense Practice As a holistic…
New York City Council Committee on Criminal Justice Hearing re: Oversight – Department of Correction Programming February 26, 2019 Written Testimony of The Bronx Defenders By Elizabeth Williams Good morning Chairman Powers and members of the Committee on Criminal Justice. My name is Elizabeth Williams and I am a social worker in the Criminal Defense…
“The whole existence of ACS lets us pretend that we’re protecting children.” Emma Ketteringham, our managing director of the Family Defense Practice, comments on how parents of color living in poverty are more likely to be overpoliced and criminalized just for parenting. Statistics show that parents living in poverty are unfairly scrutinized by the Administration…
New York City Council Committee on Public Safety Jointly with the Committee on Justice System Hearing re: Family Separation in Criminal Cases February 25, 2019 Written Testimony of The Bronx Defenders By Fallon Speaker, Eli Northrup, and Caitlin Becker As practitioners, we see firsthand the impact an arrest can have on families, especially when a…
James Anderson, a senior behavioral and social scientist at the RAND Corporation, and one of the authors of “The Effects of Holistic Defense on Criminal Justice Outcomes,” which The Bronx Defenders is featured in, talks about a better method of providing criminal defense services through holistic defense. Hear the full podcast here
On February 12, 2019, seven immigrants, representing a class of all detained immigrants in the New York City area, and the three New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP) providers—Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS), The Legal Aid Society (LAS), and The Bronx Defenders (BxD)—filed a federal lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern…
*** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE *** Detained Immigrants and New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP) Providers Sue U.S. Government over Refusal to Produce Detained Immigrants In-Person for Deportation Hearings Lawsuit Seeks to Restore the Constitutional and Statutory Rights of Hundreds of Detained Immigrants by Ending ICE’s Blanket Use of Video Teleconferencing at Varick Street Immigration Court (NEW…
“In the five years I’ve worked as a defender, I have never met a transgender client who was not abused or harassed in some way by the NYPD during the process of their arrest.” Deb Lolai, our LGBTQ specialist, wrote an op-ed highlighting transphobic practice rampant in the NYPD. While in detention, trans and gender…
New York City Council Committee on Public Safety and Committee on Justice System Joint Hearing re: Oversight – Police Discipline February 7, 2019 Written Testimony of The Bronx Defenders By Jenn Rolnick Borchetta & Oded Oren Chairman Richards, Chairman Lancman, and members of the Committees, my name is Jenn Rolnick Borchetta and I am Deputy…
The Bronx Defenders, along with the Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defender Services and other advocates, demand to be sent to MDC Warden Herman Quay and access the jail’s housing units, medical facilities and mess halls. “They lost the right to say that they can manage this. They lost all credibility.” Read more here.
“Every aspect of my role from mentoring and fostering interest in public defense careers in students early on to extending offers…to saying goodbye to my colleagues who no longer found this career to be sustainable for them…I am hearing the same question over and over. While I am incredibly committed to supporting my clients and…