More from The Appeal:
Several states, including Maryland, are considering bills to protect minors from abusive police interrogations.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Mar 25, 2021
Survivors’ needs and opinions vary—and many have not found justice when they turn to the criminal legal system.
Victoria Law Mar 22, 2021
Getting convicted of a “minor offense” inflicts serious, long-term harm. The state can and must divert more people to counseling, group meetings, or other interventions.
After organizing to repeal the “walking while trans” ban, advocates in the state—and around the country—are looking ahead to the next fight.
Bryce Covert Feb 09, 2021
In a forum with people experiencing homelessness, Democratic candidates criticized the mayor’s affordable housing plans, embraced a ‘right to housing,’ and rejected police intervention on homelessness calls.
Chris Gelardi Feb 05, 2021
The New York governor has released a plan to legalize marijuana, months after voters in the Garden State approved legalization in November. Advocates say the pressure could have ripple effects regionally.
Joshua Vaughn Jan 26, 2021
On his first day in office, George Gascón said prosecutors will not seek bail starting Jan. 1, a win for criminal justice reformers.
Eliyahu Kamisher Dec 07, 2020
In addition to the releases he has already ordered, the New York governor can grant commutations to free more incarcerated people to protect them from the disease. He has issued only three since the pandemic began.
The governor has rolled back bail reform, not released enough prisoners during the pandemic, and failed to rein in police abuses, advocates and prisoners say.
Rebecca McCray Nov 24, 2020
Progressive lawmakers and activists say Cuomo has failed to adequately protect those who are out of work, at risk of losing their homes, or living behind bars, where the virus has spread rapidly.
Jones has vowed to support expansion of the Supreme Court, back the Green New Deal, and push for criminal justice reform.
Lauren Gill Nov 04, 2020
Bowman has also advocated for an eviction moratorium and for rental payments to be cancelled for the duration of the pandemic.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Nov 03, 2020
The party's national director tells The Appeal about candidates in New York, Washington, D.C., and New Mexico that the WFP would like to see oust the establishment.
Joshua Vaughn Oct 28, 2020
After defeating long-time incumbents in Democratic primaries, progressive candidates are championing cancelling rent and banning evictions.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 15, 2020
Jones, who is running in New York’s 17th District, says fighting systemic racism and hyperpartisanship are top priorities.
Lauren Gill Oct 14, 2020
States like California, New York, and Arizona have relied on prisoners to continue working, with little pay and in precarious conditions, during the coronavirus pandemic.
Eliyahu Kamisher Oct 05, 2020
Although the new law took effect in January, state data showing how courts are applying it won’t be available until July 2021. And without funding, courts in small towns and villages may never collect the data.
Steven Yoder Sep 09, 2020
Nikki Addimando, convicted of second-degree murder for the death of her boyfriend, whom she said abused her, petitioned to have her sentence reduced under the 2019 law. But a judge ruled against her. If that ruling is affirmed, state legislators say, it will be ‘insurmountably difficult’ for survivors to ever benefit from the law.
Victoria Law Sep 03, 2020
Body camera video shows that Daniel Prude was complying with police when they knelt on his back and pushed his face to the ground for so long that he stopped breathing.
Meg O'Connor Sep 02, 2020
Administrative subpoenas—which do not require a judge’s approval—are typically used for the department’s internal investigations, but The Appeal has learned that they are being used in criminal cases.
Ali Winston Aug 25, 2020
Although there’s a diversity of views about law enforcement in Brownsville, Brooklyn, there’s widespread agreement that the community is still fighting to obtain all the resources it needs to thrive and police itself.
Abigail Savitch-Lew Aug 19, 2020
The advocates describe the reopening as unsafe and unnecessary amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chris Gelardi Jul 23, 2020
New data obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request paint a dire picture of New York City COVID-19 testing in its jails.
Memos obtained by The Appeal and anecdotes from public defenders reveal how, for a week during protests over police brutality, the NYPD stalled cases by directing officers not to testify in court.
Chris Gelardi Jun 12, 2020
Lawmakers are targeting a statute that has been used as a cudgel to bat away almost any inquiries into police misconduct.
Chris Gelardi Jun 04, 2020
State Assembly members, senators, and city council members have said they will decline and donate funds from police and corrections officers as New Yorkers fill the streets to protest recent violence by law enforcement.
Bryce Covert Jun 02, 2020
Coronavirus infections climb at the state’s only maximum-security facility for women, and those held there fear for their safety.
Lyra Walsh Fuchs May 18, 2020
The governor’s requirements for release are too narrow in light of the threat from COVID-19, they say.
Bryce Covert May 13, 2020
‘I would go to the hospital very often and they wouldn’t do anything for me.’
Kim Kelly Apr 23, 2020
Their proposals move beyond Governor Andrew Cuomo’s 90-day eviction moratorium and call for suspending or forgiving rent payments longer term.
Bryce Covert Apr 21, 2020
Local budget cuts enacted a decade ago left states and cities dangerously unprepared for COVID-19. We shouldn’t make those same mistakes again.
Nathan Tankus Apr 17, 2020
FCI Ray Brook was slow to respond to the spread of coronavirus among correctional officers. Now the outbreak has reached prisoners.
Powerful interests exploited Katrina to enrich themselves and transform the city. As a reporter who covered the fallout explains, our government’s lax oversight means the same could happen now, leaving those who most need help behind.
Gary Rivlin Apr 07, 2020
Men in Unit B-2 at the Shawangunk Correctional Facility say staff members have harassed and abused them since they possibly came into contact with an infected officer.
Jonathan Ben-Menachem Apr 03, 2020
Sheriffs wield enormous power, and they can direct it in ways that will help contain the spread of COVID-19 and protect incarcerated people.
Jessica Pishko Mar 18, 2020
Experts say evictions cause a ‘downward spiral’ of health problems for renters, and that housing security is necessary to slow the spread of the pandemic.
Darwin BondGraham Mar 13, 2020
Andrew Cuomo, who recently announced the state would employ prisoners to make hand sanitizer, must prepare for the particular vulnerabilities of the state’s prison population to COVID-19, advocates say.
Bryce Covert Mar 11, 2020
Dennis Sica struggled with substance use disorder and sold small amounts of heroin that prosecutors connected to overdose deaths. Because of an 1980s-era federal law, he was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Jon Campbell Mar 05, 2020
Advocates, formerly incarcerated people, and lawmakers warned against overhauling the New York law before it has a chance to prove itself.
Bryce Covert Feb 26, 2020
The Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act allows judges to consider shorter sentences, as well as non-prison sentences, if abuse factored significantly in the crime.
Victoria Law Feb 24, 2020
A civil suit claims that an officer who shot a 46-year-old stagehand in Midtown Manhattan should have de-escalated the encounter.
Jon Campbell Feb 07, 2020
A year after Alfonzo Riley returned from prison, he’s helping to vet innocence claims.
Kira Lerner Feb 06, 2020
The debate around bail reform focused predominantly on New York City's Rikers Island, but the bigger impact may be upstate, where almost two-thirds of the state’s jail capacity is located.
Ted Alcorn Feb 04, 2020
Despite dire-sounding headlines, the state’s cash bail reforms are having a positive impact on the people they are meant to help.
Bryce Covert Feb 03, 2020
The death of 27-year-old India Cummings in 2016 garnered national media attention and a renewed push by local activists over conditions of confinement in the New York county’s jails. But the deaths haven’t stopped.
Raina Lipsitz Jan 16, 2020
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposal purports to take sexual violence seriously, but it aggressively ignores reality in favor of lazy solutions.
Guy Hamilton-Smith Jan 13, 2020
Melinda Katz, who was inaugurated Monday, is facing criticism over what some say is a broken campaign promise.
Aaron Morrison Jan 07, 2020
Misconduct complaints against officers in the NYPD’s 34th Precinct have risen for three years straight. In 2018, 15 officers had complaints against them substantiated, the most of any precinct in New York City.
Ali Winston Dec 19, 2019
A City Council Committee considers a bill on NYPD surveillance today.
Ali Winston Dec 18, 2019
Two bills, awaiting Governor Andrew Cuomo’s signature, would help reduce the punitive impact of the child welfare system on kids and their families, including formerly incarcerated parents.
Nora McCarthy Nov 13, 2019
State law must change to stop judges from using jail time to force the poor into paying penalties they can’t afford, says one advocacy group.
Steven Yoder Oct 28, 2019
The results of record-sealing legislation enacted in 2017 shows the need for automatic expungement, advocates say.
Aaron Morrison Oct 08, 2019
The Brooklyn Community Bail Fund said it doesn’t want to ‘prop up an unjust system.’
Kira Lerner Sep 30, 2019
With Miriam Mack and Elizabeth Tuttle Newman of The Bronx Defenders
Adam H. Johnson Sep 26, 2019
Richard Rivera served more than 38 years in prison after killing an off-duty NYPD officer during a botched armed robbery. He was released in July after being denied parole five times.
Aaron Morrison Sep 16, 2019
With Appeal contributor Guy Hamilton-Smith and Elizabeth Letourneau of the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Adam H. Johnson Sep 12, 2019
Even in states where use is decriminalized, child welfare systems continue to treat it as a sign of neglectful parenting, particularly among families of color.
16-year-olds won’t have to reappear in adult criminal court if they’re arrested when youth court isn’t in session.
Lauren Gill Sep 03, 2019
Police and prosecutors claimed facial recognition technology wasn’t at the center of a shoplifting case, but defense attorneys say it was the sole basis for probable cause to arrest.
Current and former mayors were questioned about how they managed their police departments.
Aaron Morrison Aug 01, 2019
Recent legal victories have spurred counties and states to provide medication-assisted treatment to prisoners struggling with substance use.
JB Nicholas Jul 31, 2019
Establishment candidate Melinda Katz declared a narrow victory in the New York City borough’s district attorney primary, but progressive Tiffany Cabán pushed the race to the left on issues like marijuana and sex work.
Aaron Morrison Jul 30, 2019
Three Bronx friends recount their 2012 arrests in the NYPD’s ‘Operation Crew Cut,’ along with their experiences with the court system and incarceration, and reflect on their lives seven years later.
For far too long, the press has leaned on wrong-headed tough-on-crime officials like the former NYPD commissioner when reporting on the criminal legal system.
Jonathan Ben-Menachem Jul 22, 2019
Court challenges and a sweeping reform bill are offering hope to men trapped in isolation for decades.
Joshua Manson Jun 03, 2019
Prisoners can shave time off their sentences by participating in shock incarceration programs. More than a dozen former shock prisoners say that comes at a steep cost.
Keri Blakinger May 21, 2019
Instead of building ‘humane jails’ to replace Rikers Island, let’s push the NYPD to cut down on arrests.
Jonathan Ben-Menachem May 15, 2019
New York City just paid Jose LaSalle of the Copwatch Patrol Unit nearly $900,000 over claims of false arrest related to the 2016 incident, but his fight for justice is far from over.
Ashoka Jegroo May 09, 2019
Rashad McNulty entered a guilty plea in a series of federal gang indictments in New York that have been criticized as racist and overly punitive. But before McNulty was even sentenced, he died in jail. Now, his family is seeking justice.
Aaron Morrison May 01, 2019
New NYPD data show that in 2018 the department closed nearly 500 rape cases due to an alleged lack of participation from victims and had a declining clearance rate for rape, raising questions over its handling of sexual assault.
Meg O'Connor Apr 23, 2019
Banishing people from the subway will only marginalize them without addressing the problem.
Guy Hamilton-Smith Apr 01, 2019
Activists suspect the investigation was tainted by the close relationship between the police and prosecutors.
Aaron Morrison Mar 22, 2019
Federal defenders say the shutdown is hurting poor people stuck in jail.
Kira Lerner Jan 24, 2019
She is suing the Division of Human Rights for saying it’s not authorized to investigate her complaint.
Emma Whitford Jan 22, 2019
The miniseries depicting a New York prison escape fails to show what happened to the men left behind.
Katie Rose Quandt Jan 10, 2019
Prosecutors denounce bail reform efforts when people miss court dates, but ‘failure to appear’ rates obscure the fact that many who miss court aren’t on the run.
Prisoners in the state’s Regional Medical Units allege that they are being denied access to essential programs and services like law libraries.
Keri Blakinger Jan 08, 2019
Reports detail suicides and care for one woman that was ‘so grossly incompetent and inadequate as to shock the conscience.’
Raina Lipsitz Jan 07, 2019
Advocates say victims are being pressured to sign ‘withdrawal’ forms to quickly close investigations and protect the department from legal liability.
Meg O'Connor Dec 17, 2018
Under Raise the Age, ‘there are kids similarly situated who are being treated totally differently.’
Cassi Feldman Dec 04, 2018
Decision-making by prosecutors in such cases, says one attorney, ‘compounds, entrenches, and ultimately authorizes the initial act of violence by prosecuting the victim.’
Aviva Stahl Oct 24, 2018
As Thursday's election approaches, confusion reigns.
Emma Whitford Sep 12, 2018
State Senate candidate Julia Salazar explains how sex workers’ rights is a key part of reforming criminal justice in New York.
Melissa Gira Grant Sep 07, 2018
Jacqueline Smalls was sentenced to 15 years in prison for killing a boyfriend whose ‘hands were his weapons.’ She now joins the ranks of criminalized survivors seeking clemency from Governor Cuomo.
Victoria Law Sep 05, 2018
From policing to parole, this election could be pivotal for reform.
Emma Whitford Aug 28, 2018
Grassroots group VOCAL-NY is teaching people with substance use disorder how to avoid getting ensnared in the criminal justice system.
Christopher Moraff Aug 09, 2018
With journalist Bryce Covert.
Adam H. Johnson Jul 26, 2018
A teenage girl spent weeks in jail, and her mother is still locked up on a $150,000 bond.
Jessica Pishko Jul 13, 2018
New York's Democratic governor has granted only a trickle of commutations, fewer than many of his Democratic and Republican predecessors.
Victoria Law Jun 20, 2018
Walliris Velez thought the worst was behind her after she was slashed in a subway car, but then came an arrest and an attempted murder charge by the Bronx DA.
Brian Solano spent over two years on Rikers Island before a potentially exonerating NYPD video interview was disclosed to his defense attorney. But that video is now being excluded from his June trial.
Her former partner assaulted her in her home. When the police arrived, she was arrested and he walked free.
Emma Whitford Feb 26, 2018
A new app seeks to liberate people from more than “liberal malaise.”
Rebecca McCray Nov 15, 2017
Dispatches is our series from organizers, attorneys, officials, and others working at the frontlines of local criminal justice reform.
Josmar Trujillo Nov 08, 2017
A law that results in disproportionate arrests and prosecutions of black and Latino New Yorkers will stand.
Rebecca McCray Oct 26, 2017
U.S. Attorney says the evidence against him is “overwhelming”
A movement to oust Cyrus Vance gains steam.
Oct 19, 2017
Melissa Gira Grant Oct 12, 2017
Vote in a Brooklyn District Attorney that Represents Your Values for the Future of Criminal Justice.
Scott Hechinger Sep 07, 2017