Queens Defenders

The New York City Comptroller’s recent report, “Ensuring Timely Trials,” brings several alarming discoveries about how case delays in our city’s justice system have far reaching and cascading consequences on the lives of individuals charged with crimes, the city’s goal to close Rikers Island, and everything in between. Disturbingly, in 2023 New York City consistently underperformed compared to model standards for disposition of felonies while the cost of detention has increased by 278% over the last decade. Committing ourselves to aligning case processing timelines with national best practices can potentially reduce the need for thousands of beds needed in city jails. This not only protects an individuals right to a speedy trial under the Sixth Amendment to the US Constitution but ensures those who are innocent and wrongly accused can return to their homes, families, jobs, and lives.

Queens Defenders is hiring for our new unit representing individuals facing eviction in Queens Housing Court. Visit https://lnkd.in/eBnHdXx3 to apply and learn more about our open positions.

Queens Defenders' Attorney in Charge of Policy & Law Reform Gina Mitchell spoke with Law360 about the crucial need for maintaining the recent changes to New York's Discovery laws. "We've absolutely had cases [since the reform] where we've gotten body-worn camera footage and there was no lawful basis for the stop and seizure or search of our client or the police are saying that the client says something, and they absolutely do not, so it's allowed us to investigate. We're talking about wrongful convictions and people spending more time in prison or having devastating collateral consequences. I just think it is deeply problematic to somehow put that in the same conversation around attrition and staffing issues in the D.A.'s office." https://lnkd.in/eHnXbQCj

Last week, participants in Queens Defenders' Emerging Leaders Program joined activists across the State in calling on lawmakers to pass the #TreatmentNotJails Act. They joined rallies, toured the State Capitol, were acknowledged on the floor of the New York State Assembly, and spoke with legislators about the issues affecting their communities. Thank you to NYS Senator Leroy Comrie, NYS Senator James Sanders, Jr., Assembly Member Clyde Vanel, and Assembly Member Khaleel Anderson for taking the time to speak with young advocates! #QDEmergingLeadersProgram.

TODAY in Albany we're joining Justice Organizations across the state to call on legislators to support #CommunitiesNotCages. New Yorkers need Communities Not Cages to: ❌ ELIMINATE MANDATORY MINIMUMS - 98% of convictions are a result of plea deals - not a trial. Mandatory minimum sentences drive mass incarceration, strip judges of discretion coerce guilty pleas. ❌ END EXTREME SENTENCING - Over the past 50 years, NY’s laws have resulted in increasingly harsh sentences — with no opportunity for judges to review reconsider individual cases. It’s time for a Second Look. ✅ SUPPORT TRANSFORMATION - In the ‘90s, NY slashed programs for incarcerated people dramatically cut time that could be earned off sentences. Tell your legislators we need the Earned Time Act to support personal transformation, ❤️ And bring our moms and kids home! Contact your lawmakers and demand they stand with us using this tool: bit.ly/CNCNY

GREAT NEWS -- the #Right2RemainSilent Youth Interrogation bill passed through the Assembly Codes committee, referring it to Ways & Means! You can keep the pressure on lawmakers in Albany to support and pass #Right2RemainSilent this session by signing up for the In Re Gault phone banking event on Wednesday May 15th here: https://loom.ly/pePMec8

HAPPENING NOW: We are in Albany to demand #TreatmentNotJail! For decades, NY has relied on jails and prisons to take care of New Yorkers with mental health and substance use issues. And what have we gotten with this investment? More sickness, more death, and a cycle of recidivism that does not stop because we fail to invest in treatment and over-invest in jails and prisons. We cannot rely on incarceration to address mental and public health. We need community-based treatment, not jail. Follow us today as we rally in Albany to demand #TreatmentNotJail and tell the Governor and your state representatives to support the legislation as well.

Thank you to everyone who joined us last week at the Queens Borough Hall Helen Marshall Atrium for Denim Day Queens! We're proud to take part in this important day, and look forward to coming together again for #DenimDayNYC tomorrow. Thank you to our panelists, the Queens Borough President's Office and Deputy Borough President Ebony Young for their partnership, and to our sponsors -- Delivering Good, NYC Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers, SafeHorizon, and the Mayors Office to End Domestic & Gender Based Violence -- whose support allows us to continue to uplifting individuals impacted by domestic violence throughout queens.

Gina Mitchell, Attorney-in-Charge for Law Reform and Policy at Queens Defenders, spoke with the Queens Daily Eagle about similarities in the Adams’ NYPD when compared to Giuliani’s. “I think that data like this demonstrates a return to broken windows policing, which is applied in a very discriminatory fashion,” Mitchell told the Eagle over the phone on Monday. “I just think that it's obviously tracking with his administration because of the stark increase in 2022,” she added, calling the former-police captain mayor “notoriously pro-law enforcement.” https://loom.ly/FOAXGBU

We are thrilled to announce that Queens Defenders has once again been awarded a grant by the NEW YORK BAR FOUNDATION in support of our innovative youth programs that work to prepare court-involved young people for lives free of criminal legal system involvement.