New York County Defender Services
@nyc_defenders
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NYCDS is a premier public defender office serving New York City’s most vulnerable communities since 1997.
New York, NY
Joined September 2018
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Pinned Tweet
This week
@MWilsonNYT
published a beautiful, humanizing piece on NYCDS client Walter Reed and his trial team, NYCDS attorneys Vickie Mwitanti & Sam Sloane and social worker Taylor Garzone.
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"93% of the people arraigned in Manhattan criminal court are people of color."
Shameful. How can we call our legal system a "justice system" if only people of color are processed through it?
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183
Public defenders and attorney unions support law graduates' call for COVID-19
#diplomaprivilege
.
No one should be forced to take the
#barexam
during a pandemic.
Read our letter to
@NYGovCuomo
@CarlHeastie
@AndreaSCousins
here:
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New York City's public defenders are united: Now is not the time to increase pretrial jailing. People are dying on Rikers Island. This is an international health crisis. We call on our state legislators to stand strong against bail reform rollbacks.
Read our joint statement here:
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Tarz Youngblood,
@nyc_defenders
client, was just 38 years old when he lost his life at Rikers Island. Today we join
@FreedomAgendaNY
@UrbanJustice
@VOCALNewYork
@JailsAction
in remembering him and the 17 other New Yorkers who have died in NYC jails this year.
5
46
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NYCDS strongly supports the new
#DiplomaPrivilege
bill from Sen.
@bradhoylman
.
Our incoming class of trial attorneys have worked hard for 3 years and they shouldn't have to risk their lives in order to start their careers as public defenders.
BREAKING: As Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I've seen how COVID-19 has upended the legal profession.
Law school grads are rightfully concerned taking the Bar Exam in person poses health risks. So I'm introducing legislation to provide 2020 grads with diploma privilege.
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2K
5
22
98
The Lawyer is in: NYCDS Attorney Casey Dalporto is taking questions about bail.
Gov. Hochul's proposal will only lead to more pretrial incarceration, leading to more death on Rikers.
True public safety = investment in communities.
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24
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NYPD caught bragging about how bail reform allows them to bill taxpayers $$$ for bogus overtime charges.
@CarlHeastie
@AndreaSCousins
@GovKathyHochul
Meanwhile the man they arrested sat in a cage for 8 hours w/o water enduring the officers’ racist banter.
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"When Vance’s office was charging resisting, I knew without a doubt I would walk in the back and see my client beaten up, bloody and bruised." -
@elizaorlins
calling out the abusive way "Resisting Arrest" is commonly invoked to cover up police brutality.
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The Mayor's plan to expand involuntary commitment is not the answer. We need to dramatically increase our investment in communities: housing, education, and community-based treatment. /1
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We are appalled to learn that NYC prosecutors have waged a covert campaign to sneak in disastrous rollbacks of NY's historic, long-overdue 2019 discovery reforms in this year's budget. Our elected leaders must reject these duplicitous attacks on justice. Our full statement 👇
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If
@NYCMayor
can find $5.4B to arrest people he can surely find the $125M that NYC defenders desperately need to provide essential legal services to NYers.
@NYCSpeakerAdams
@LegalAidNYC
@NeighborhoodDef
@BronxDefenders
@BklynDefender
@QueensDefenders
8
22
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Congratulations to Marie,
@nyc_defenders
's latest lawyer to be admitted to practice in NY! Marie interned with us as a 2L at
@cunylaw
when she was pregnant, and today she was sworn in to the bar in front of her daughter’s crib.
#WorkLifeBalance
#PandemicLawyering
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11
54
Monday, June 8th. NYCDS will be there. Join us.
Meet at 2:30 pm at Brooklyn Borough Hall. We'll march across the Brooklyn Bridge to Foley Square in lower Manhattan.
#publicdefenders
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We are devastated to learn of the death of NYCDS and
@BklynDefender
client, William Johnstone, at Rikers.
His death, marking the 6th in NYC jail custody this year, & the 25th since the beginning 2022, is both deeply saddening and outrageous.
Read our joint statement below:
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New York City defenders in Albany today to demand
#FactsNotFear
and
#SafetyNotJail
alongside our communities.
@GovKathyHochul
's crime plan would be a massive step backwards.
We all want safe communities. But jailing thousands more legally innocent people won't get us there.
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NYCDS proud to join with our community partners outside
@GovKathyHochul
’s office this morning to call on the legislature to protect bail, discovery and raise the age reforms.
#FactsNotFear
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49
NYCDS demanding an overhaul to NY’s racist and draconian sentencing laws!
#CommunitiesNotCages
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50
What are people accused of taking such that
@ManhattanDA
believes they should face multiple years in prison? Socks. Lotion. A loaf of bread. Cat food.
@CourtWatchNYC
& public defenders like
@eorlins
chronicle these stories in real time every week. /4
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NYCDS went to Albany today to talk with legislators about the SUCCESS of bail reform in reducing unnecessary pre-trial incarceration without jeopardizing public safety. Bail reform has had a hugely positive impact on thousands of New Yorkers accused of crimes and their families.
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Joshua Valles, a 31 year old New Yorker, died of a skull fracture he sustained at Rikers. There are many questions surrounding his death and we have no faith in DOC to provide the answers his family deserves.
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NYCDS was devastated to hear of the passing of
@MARVINMAYFIELD7
- the heart and soul of the criminal legal system reform movement in NYS.
His legacy lives on in all of the reforms that he helped shepherd, esp. bail reform. He will never be forgotten.
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Cuyahoga County (Cleveland, Ohio) is releasing people from jails because of the coronavirus. NYC should follow their lead.
2
19
41
After a 17-year hiatus, the "lobster shift" (arraignments from 1-9 am at 100 Centre St) is back.
NYCDS defenders will be there to fight like hell for the hundreds of protesters who have been in lockup in violation of the 24 hours rule.
#WeStandWithYou
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19
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New York's public defenders are united: we can't go back to the days of the Blindfold Law.
NY prosecutors must be required to promptly share evidence with accused people, as is the case in the rest of the country.
Read our letter here:
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22
42
“Rikers Island is in a humanitarian crisis. We must treat the reasons that people commit crimes. We’re here to take it upon our generation to shift the paradigm about how we treat those root causes.”
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DOC has had ample time and every opportunity to address the rampant abuse, violence and corruption in our city jails. With every passing month, conditions continue to plunge deeper into a deadly abyss. It is time for an independent authority to take control. Full statement below:
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Before reform in 2019, NY had 1 of most regressive discovery regimes in the country. Wrongful convictions ballooned to the 3rd highest in the US. We must pass Challenging Wrongful Convictions Act & say NO to any disco rollbacks to finally address NY’s wrongful conviction problem.
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NYCDS is fighting for fair wages for public defense staff at City Hall today. Proud to stand with
@ShaunAbreu
@KevinCRiley
@LegalAidNYC
@NeighborhoodDef
@BklynDefender
@nylag
to call for the fair pay necessary for the highest quality representation of our communities.
1
11
37
Yesterday, NYC defenders marched across the Brooklyn Bridge in solidarity with
#BLM
& protesters around the world who are demanding wholesale transformation of the US criminal legal system.
Today we call on
@CarlHeastie
@AndreaSCousins
to
#Repeal50A
. This is just the beginning.
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10
37
NYCDS calls on
@NYCCouncil
to reject increased funding for the NYPD at today's stated meeting.
#NYCbudgetjustice
Read our statement below.
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Join us TODAY at noon at Foley Square for the launch of the Treatment Not Jail campaign! Let's stop warehousing NYers with mental health and substance use challenges in our jails and instead get them the treatment they need and deserve
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NYCDS obtained chilling video showing Rikers guards watching idly while our 67-yr-old client is repeatedly beaten. "They just let him beat the s--t out of me. They just stood there and let it happen... They let him come back and do it again and again."
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Big welcome to our 2019 class of new trial attorneys and forensic social workers! This group of zealous advocates is already hard at work learning to dismantle injustice and defend their clients' rights.
#publicdefenders
#socialwork
#firstweek
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BREAKING: NYCDS released the following statement in response to the false and shameful depiction of our client, Darrell Johnson, in recent media reports:
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Since 2021, 20 people have lost their lives on Rikers. This is a tragedy of the city's own making.
Join us to remember those who have died and honor their humanity.
Tuesday, May 17.
1 pm.
New York City Hall Steps.
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NYCDS is proud to join with
@FreedomAgendaNY
and others to fight for a budget that invests in initiatives that makes our communities healthier and safer.
#CloseRikers
#TreatmentNotJail
0
17
37
NYCDS will be outside Rikers TODAY at 11 AM in solidarity with our clients on hunger strike. It is time for
@NYCCouncil
&
@NYCMayor
to act!
At 11 AM TOMORROW, Jan. 13, we will be rallying outside of Rikers Island in support of incarcerated individuals who have launched a hunger strike in protest of conditions and food at the facility:
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Last week
@CorrectionNYC
brutally retaliated against our client (& others who participated in the hunger strike) for exposing the true state of our jails and speaking w/
@nycpa
, so no,
@MrLouisMolina
, we will not attend your meeting tomorrow.
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Today we stand with
@RAPPcampaign
and the hundreds of New Yorkers all joined in Albany today to rally for
#parolejusticeNY
!
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We joined with
@LegalAidNYC
@BklynDefender
@BronxDefenders
@NeighborhoodDef
on an important statement today about the NYS Senate Majority bail reform rollback proposal. Read it here👇🏽
***Statement On NYS Senate Majority Proposal To Roll Back Bail Reform***
"As attorneys for the people whose lives and families would be destroyed by this legislation, we adamantly oppose any changes to the bail law as it is written."
More:
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"A group of about 10 men held at Rikers on civil charges like failing to pay child support were locked in isolated cells for 23 hours/day for nearly a month in November."
We must ban solitary confinement in city jails.
@NYCCouncil
- pass Int. 549 today!
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17
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The time is now - NYC must decarcerate city jails for the health & safety of all New Yorkers.
New op-ed from NYCDS attorney Brad Maurer, Prof.
@s_j_prins
,
@SandhyaKaj
&
@LegalAidNYC
attorney
@KSimpsonHere
#FreeThemAll
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“The fact that it was captured on body-worn cameras that are no secret only speaks to the impunity that DOC officers have come to expect & the toxic institutional culture that nourishes this kind of moral rot,” said NYCDS Legal Director Sergio De La Pava.
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“I think the numbers are being manipulated. Certain index numbers are being chosen to cherry pick,” says NYCDS Legal Director Sergio de la Pava.
He says the city is deliberately highlighting certain figures to reduce public support of the bail reform law.
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"The fact that
@BronxDAClark
& other judges never took the time to ask why Kalief Browder was being held for years on a minor charge is exactly why bail reform was enacted."
@errollouis
Simply granting more “judicial discretion” to judges will not work...
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Legal scholars across the country call for the implementation of NY's new discovery reform law without delay.
Read their letter here:
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14
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880 New Yorkers currently incarcerated on Rikers will be released by January 1, 2020, thanks to long-sought
#bailreform
. Defenders are working with NYC courts to begin the release process now, explains NYCDS executive director
@german_stan
.
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"There are consequences to what Albany does. It would appear that the message every time we have a bail rollback from Albany to judges is, 'We don't have enough people in jail.'...But for the bail rollbacks, Joshua would be alive today." -
@german_stan
0
14
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Beginning this July, all New Yorkers charged with a misdemeanor will have the right to a jury trial!
This is a big change in the law that will protect people from coercive plea deals that leave them with a criminal record. /1
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“Attacking [bail reform,] this modest, and so-far successful, policy is not only a distraction, but does a disservice to our commitment to true public safety.” -
@ScottHech
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16
30
#HALTsolitary
rallly happening now in front of
@NYGovCuomo
office in Manhattan. Gov. Cuomo - it’s time to end torture in NYS. Please sign the bill!
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We cannot close the pipeline that feeds mass incarceration without funding the services like
@TNJAct
, where we can provide true healing that keeps people out of jail. That’s why we call on the NYS legislature to pass TNJ in this year’s budget!
1
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.
@NYGovCuomo
- Incarcerated people need access to the COVID vaccine. No jail sentence should be a death sentence. If you won't enforce their rights under the law, we'll see you in court.
1
13
28
Hundreds of NYC public defenders kneel for 8 min & 46 seconds to remember those we have lost to police violence.
#EndPoliceBrutality
#BlackLivesMatter2PublicDefenders
0
10
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For more than two weeks now, the NYC jail database has been offline, making it harder for people to pay bail for incarcerated family members.
People's life and liberty are on the line, but where is
@nycmayor
?
1
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For all the
#publicdefenders
out there who are representing clients through video court appearances, check out our infographic on Tips for Effective Video Appearances in Court. If you feel like we missed anything, let us know.
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“Those people over there don’t have much of a voice. It is incumbent upon regular ordinary citizens to sound the alarm just like my client did.” NYCDS attorney
@ericburse
whose masterful, dogged litigation helped expose the unimaginable violence at Rikers
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We spend millions more arresting & incarcerating people than defending them. It's time to invest in public defense.
New op-ed by NYCDS Exec Dir
@german_stan
:
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15
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“If you are innocent, you should not be incarcerated. That is not a radical proposition, that’s not out of step with what most New Yorkers think. That’s exactly how our legal system should work,” -
@SenatorMyrie
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12
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***NYCDS Statement on Surrender by
#BlackLivesMatter
Organizer***
"The presence of NYPD officers on Mr. Ingram’s fire escape, helicopters circling overhead, and police dogs was a shocking demonstration of the tactics the NYPD is willing to undertake to suppress dissent."
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Today.
1 pm.
City Hall Steps.
A vigil to remember the 20 people who have died on Rikers Island since 2021. Rikers is a humanitarian disaster. It's time for our public officials to act to release people from Rikers and save lives.
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What can New York do to make the criminal legal system more fair for all New Yorkers? Pass
#ProtectOurCourts
#HALTsolitary
#repeal50a
#MarijuanaJustice
this session. We joined with our fellow NYC defenders to call on the legislature to act. /1
1
14
25
BREAKING: NYCDS urges an immediate investigation by the NYS Attorney General into the murky and troubling circumstances surrounding Joshua Valles’ death.
We are devastated about the death of NYCDS client Joshua Valles this weekend. Read our statement:
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13
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"Predatory fines and fees have turned our courts into revenue raisers, police into armed debt collectors and put families like mine into debt," writes Peggy Herrera
@CCA_NY
. Now is the time to pass the End Predatory Court Fees Act.
#NoPriceOnJustice
0
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NY still has a long way to go to make our criminal legal system more fair & just for all. We joined w/
@BklynDefender
@BronxDefenders
@LegalAidNYC
@NeighborhoodDef
to call on the legislature to pass 20 critical reforms in 2020. Read our joint letter here:
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NYCDS was in Albany today calling on our elected leaders to PASS CLEAN SLATE!
#cleanslatecantwait
@cleanslateny
@AndreaSCousins
@CarlHeastie
@GovKathyHochul
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8
25
In a system this racially biased, is it any wonder that NY's exoneration law is supremely broken?
We can fix it & bring NY law in line with other states.
NY: we must pass the Challenging Wrongful Convictions Act now!
Black Americans make up half of all exonerees, despite being only about 13% of the nation’s population.
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NYCDS joins with the hundreds of organizations across the state - an unprecedented show of unity across many different fields - to REJECT any budget proposal that would roll back the historic bail reforms passed in 2019 and jail more Black and brown NYers.
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"If Cuomo succeeds in rolling back bail reform, he would not only exacerbate the pandemic by ensuring that tens of thousands more people would be jailed this year, but he would also likely doom the closure of Rikers."
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15
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Joshua White (Attorney) & Celia Joyce (Sr Data Analyst) testified at City Council today about DOC's persistent failure to bring our incarcerated clients to court-which routinely delays their release from jail, stalls the progress of the case & violates their constitutional rights
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"Every New Yorker should be concerned about a legal process that denies access to the courts for people who plead guilty, especially given that 1/5th of the nearly 3,000 exonerations revealed in the US involved an innocent person pleading guilty." - Rebecca Brown
@innocence
2
13
22
NYC public defenders call out unconscionable bail rollbacks:
"Any effort to address public safety in the budget should have focused on investing resources and funding in communities. The 'tough on crime' punishment paradigm embraced by the budget has never made any of us safer."
1
9
23
Thanks to
#bailreform
, we are now at an all-time low in terms of numbers of clients held in jail pre-trial.
As of Jan 2, NYCDS had only 185 clients in pre-trial detention, compared to 301 in July.
This is a 38% decrease in the number of clients on
#Rikers
in the past 6 months.
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NYCDS is in Albany today with
@JustLeadersUSA
@citizenactionny
@NYCLU
@BronxDefenders
@RAPPcampaign
@hrw
@VOCALNewYork
and our tireless legislative allies to support bail reform.
#NoRollbacks
#Justice
1
12
24
#BREAKING
: NYC public defenders issue joint letter to
@NYCMayor
@NYCSpeakerCoJo
@NYCCouncil
in support of cutting NYPD budget by at least $1B.
"It’s time to reject the impulse to arrest, punish, and incarcerate our way out of complex social problems. It hasn’t worked."
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The Treatment Not Jail Coalition is 100+ strong in Albany today, spreading the word about the need to divert people with mental health concerns from our jails and prisons.
Our advocates won’t stop until TNJ is law.
#InvestInCommunities
1
9
24
"Make no mistake: a bail “dangerousness” standard is rooted in America’s history of chattel slavery and will lead to racist outcomes and more pretrial detention." -
@LegalAidNYC
attorneys
At it's core, bail reform is a racial justice issue.
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8
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NYC's public defense system is comprised of the most compassionate, hard-working legal minds in the country.
It is nationally lauded. It is vital to our ct system. It so underfunded it is on the brink of collapse.
We must fairly pay public defenders.
1
12
22
Another day, another wrongful conviction exposed.
The
@NYSenate
must join the Assembly in passing S.215 to create a working pathway to exoneration in NY this year. The status quo is unacceptable.
#ChallengingWrongfulConvictionsAct
Sheldon Thomas spent 19 years in prison wrongfully convicted of murder after cops knowingly used a photo of a different Black man (with the same name) in a photo array and a witness identified him. His judge, then an appeal court, said it didn't matter because they looked alike.
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8
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NYCDS is proud to join with our partners from
@JailsAction
@RAPPcampaign
@NYCAIC
@nycpa
@CMCarlinaRivera
and many others this morning to call for an end to solitary confinement in city jails!
0
8
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No public defender should have to work multiple jobs just to make ends meet. This is not just unfair to staff & clients, but is a constitutional crisis of the city's own making.
.
@NYCMayor
- it's not too late to fully fund public defense in the budget!
1
12
22
BREAKING -"A coronavirus outbreak in our overcrowded, poorly maintained jails & prison facilities would be devastating, swift, and deadly. It is incumbent on our leaders to do everything they can to protect all of their constituents, including incarcerated people." -NYC defenders
0
15
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“Years from now, our descendants will look back at New York’s historic pretrial reforms and realize they were wrong about rollbacks.” -
@german_stan
#NoRollbacks
1
5
20
“We cannot continue to rely on jails and emergency rooms as our mental health providers.” - Peggy Herrera,
@CCA_NY
@FreedomAgendaNY
@TNJAct
0
10
22
It’s official - March 18, 2023 was Public Defense Day in NYS!
Thank you
@bradhoylman
for honoring the work that public defenders do across our state.
#proclamation
#Gideonat60
0
6
20
NYCDS is in Albany today with the
@TNJAct
coalition and sponsors
@phara4assembly
&
@NYSenatorRamos
to advocate for a law that would create non-coercive pre-plea mental health courts across the state.
Our communities deserve treatment, not jail!
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"Under NY law, if you plead guilty to a crime, the only way to overturn your conviction is through DNA evidence — even if you are actually innocent. No DNA evidence in your case? No exoneration." -
@AMDanQuart
/1
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11
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Good luck to our incoming trial attorney class on the NYS bar exam this week! You’ve got this!
#BarExam
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1
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Anthony Sims speaking at the Challenging Wrongful Convictions Act rally in Albany. Welcome home, Anthony! Let’s pass this bill so all of our wrongfully convicted brothers and sisters can come home!
0
7
21
NYCDS and fellow NYC defenders issued the following statement on Gov. Hochul's recent order to transfer women and transgender to upstate prisons.
2
7
22
New report by
@courtinnovation
projects that
@NYGovCuomo
's bail rollbacks may lead to a 16% increase in NYC's jail population when it goes into effect July 3rd.
Our defenders will continue to fight to
#FreeThemAll
, regardless of the change in the law.
0
12
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As we close out Black History Month, 'One Word to Describe a Public Defender' with NYCDS Black defenders.
What's your word?
@BPDA_justice
@NLADA
@NAPD2013
@Gideons_Promise
@NYSACDL
@NYChiefDefends
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"It is essential that we refocus our attention on how we can better prevent people from being wrongfully prosecuted and sent to prison in the first place." -
@GalvinAlmanza
0
5
19
We joined with
@JumaaneWilliams
@LegalAidNYC
@ndsharlem
to call on
@ManhattanDA
to re-examine thousands of cases prosecuted by his office’s sex crime unit between 1976 and 2002 in response to the misconduct starkly exposed in the Netflix series
#WhenTheySeeUs
1
10
21
"Why would an innocent person plead guilty? If you were sitting on Rikers Island for 10 months, and one day the prosecutor comes along and says, 'Hey, you plead guilty today, you get time served." What would YOU do?" -
@german_stan
NYCDS Executive Director
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9
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“I don’t think there’s no fixing jail. It’s going to keep getting worse because it has been going on for so long.” - Relator G, our fearless client who helped expose DOC’s inhumane conditions at Rikers and prevailed in a writ of habeas corpus.
0
11
21
"To take a person away from their family, remove them from their community & imprison them wrongfully is one of the greatest harms the state can inflict upon an individual." - Roger Clark
@VOCALNewYork
12
8
20
NYCDS Exec. Dir. Stan Germán is joining hundreds from across NY today - International Wrongful Convictions Day - to call on
@GovKathyHochul
to sign the Challenging Wrongful Convictions Act.
Put simply: “There is no good reason why the Governor should not sign this bill.”
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