America’s Biggest City Was Hit Hard By COVID-19. Its Jails Are Filling Up Again New York City’s jail population is close to reaching pre-pandemic levels. Advocates say dishonest fearmongering about bail reform—and the politicians who capitulated to it—have created a very real safety crisis. Joshua Manson
New York City Pledged to Fund Programs to Stop Domestic Violence Without Involving the Legal System. But There’s Disagreement About How to Do It. Rates of reporting domestic violence are low in immigrant communities, where survivors of abuse often don’t want to involve the police. As an alternative, the de Blasio administration promised to fund community-based domestic violence programming—but those funds were delayed, and advocates fear programs with strong community ties may not meet the city’s requirements. Roshan Abraham
New York City Public Defenders Oppose Resuming In-Person Court Appearances The advocates describe the reopening as unsafe and unnecessary amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Chris Gelardi
Budget Cuts May Keep Rikers Open Past 2027 Deadline Reductions in budgets related to the novel coronavirus have slowed New York City’s plan to close Rikers by building new jails, and it’s becoming increasingly possible that the city will not meet its January 2027 deadline. Jonathan Ben-Menachem
For Essential Workers, New York City’s Curfew Meant Fear, Harassment, and Arrest Essential workers say curfews put them at risk of police violence, even though they were exempt. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
The Toll That Curfews Have Taken On Homeless Americans The country’s homeless population was already struggling to access services during the pandemic. Kira Lerner
New York Protests Could Finally Push Through Increased Police Transparency Lawmakers are targeting a statute that has been used as a cudgel to bat away almost any inquiries into police misconduct. Chris Gelardi
The Carceral Kings of New York As COVID-19 spreads, Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio are slashing budgets, but leaving funding for police and prisons largely untouched. Ross Barkan
New York City Must Take Action to Ensure the Most Vulnerable Survive the Pandemic The city has created the structural conditions that have engendered disproportionately high rates of infection and death among its Black and Latinx residents. TS Candii, Darializa Avila Chevalier
Policing Coronavirus As infections and deaths mount, state leaders and law enforcement are turning to tough-on-crime tactics in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak. Jessica Pishko
Coronavirus Has Come to Rikers, and the People Inside Are Fighting to Survive The island’s Communicable Disease Unit is already overflowing with quarantined people. Kim Kelly
Michael Bloomberg’s Stop-and-Frisk Legacy Came Back to Haunt Him This Week As old audio clips of Bloomberg defending the controversial policing policy went viral, new data showed the practice isn’t fading away in New York city. Aaron Morrison
Community Policing Is Not the Answer Investing billions of government dollars into programs that embed police in Black communities will not reduce police violence, nor repair years of injustice. Philip V. McHarris
New York Subway Police Make Us Less Safe Recent violent arrests in the city subways should make New Yorkers question the push by Governor Andrew Cuomo and the MTA to hire 500 new transit police. Jonathan Ben-Menachem
It’s Time to Fight the Democratic Mayors Who Are Champions of the Carceral State The mayors of New York, Chicago, and San Francisco wrap themselves in the language of progressivism, but when it comes to the criminal legal system they’re Trumpian. Kelly Hayes
Incarceration Is Always a Policy Failure Instead of building ‘humane jails’ to replace Rikers Island, let’s push the NYPD to cut down on arrests. Jonathan Ben-Menachem
New York Lawmakers Want To Ban Sex Offenders From The Subway. That Won’t Solve Anything. Banishing people from the subway will only marginalize them without addressing the problem. Guy Hamilton-Smith
Bronx D.A. Says She Wants to Reduce Overdose Deaths, But Opposes A Program That Can Help Darcel Clark’s approach to overdose deaths continue the criminalization of drug users and put her on the wrong side of history, advocates say. Raven Rakia
Public Defenders Say New York’s New Policy To Reduce Marijuana Arrests Doesn’t Go Far Enough The exceptions to the policy change could actually worsen the racial disparities in marijuana-related arrests, defense attorneys told The Appeal. Raven Rakia
Why Is New York Still Paying Eric Garner’s Killer Six Figures? Daniel Pantaleo remains with the NYPD four years after Garner's death. Raven Rakia
How the Push to Close Rikers Went From No Jails To New Jails Activists say a once-radical campaign has been co-opted. Raven Rakia, Ashoka Jegroo
Activists Fed Up with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Silence on Safe Injection Sites Zachary A. Siegel
