New York County Defender Services

“Today, New York State takes a major step backward in the path toward racial justice. On April 1, during the middle of the pandemic, the legislature chose to rollback New York’s progressive bail reform statute. As the law goes into effect today, thousands more legally innocent Black and brown New Yorkers will once again be detained pre-trial on high amounts of bail that they cannot afford...Read the StatementDownload PDF

"New Yorkers recognize that bold action is necessary. Transformative change must start with divesting at least $1 billion directly from the NYPD’s almost $6 billion FY21 expense budget, but it cannot end there. We must dramatically shrink the footprint of law enforcement and reverse our decades-long defunding of social services and public infrastructure."Read the LetterDownload PDF

NYCDS proudly stands alongside the people who marched in the streets for racial justice in June 2020. Our trial attorneys represented 72 people in protest-related cases in Manhattan Criminal Court arraignments the week of May 29-June 6, 2020. Our clients in protest-related cases were overwhelmingly youth of color. Read the ReportDownload PDF