The Bronx Defenders is a
public defender
A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Hungary and Singapore, ...
office located in the
South Bronx
The South Bronx is an area of the New York City borough of the Bronx. The area comprises neighborhoods in the southern part of the Bronx, such as Concourse, Mott Haven, Melrose, and Port Morris.
In the early 1900s, the South Bronx was or ...
neighborhood of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
. At the Bronx Defenders, criminal defense lawyers work together with
civil lawyers, family defense lawyers, immigration lawyers, non-attorney advocates,
social worker
Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...
s, and investigators to help their clients address the full range of legal and social issues that can result from criminal charges. The Bronx Defenders are a
contracted public defender
A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Hungary and Singapore, ...
for New York City, along with the
Legal Aid Society
The Legal Aid Society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit legal aid provider based in New York City. Founded in 1876, it is the oldest and largest provider of legal aid in the United States. Its attorneys provide representation on criminal and civil ma ...
, ''New York County Defender Services'' in Manhattan, ''Brooklyn Defender Services'' in Brooklyn, ''Queens Law Associates'' in Queens, and the ''Neighborhood Defender Service'' in northern Manhattan.
History
Founded in 1997 by a team of eight advocates, including its former executive director
Robin Steinberg,
David Feige and criminal defense attorney
Daniel Arshack
Daniel "Dan" Arshack (born March 30, 1956) is an American criminal defense attorney, co-founder of The Bronx Defenders, managing partner of the law firm Arshack, Hajek and Lehrman, PLLC, and a founding member of the International Criminal Bar, w ...
, the Bronx Defenders is responsible for developing holistic defense, an interdisciplinary model of criminal defense lawyering. The Bronx Defenders is also host to
The Bronx Freedom Fund, the first charitable bail organization in New York State. In recent years, the Bronx Defenders has received national attention and praise for its work providing holistic defense to indigent residents of the Bronx, including the
National Legal Aid & Defender Association’s Clara Shortridge Foltz Award.
As of early 2016, the office had 250 employees working in it.
See also
*
The Legal Aid Society
*
The Bronx Freedom Fund
*
New York City Criminal Court
The Criminal Court of the City of New York is a court of the State Unified Court System in New York City that handles misdemeanors (generally, crimes punishable by fine or imprisonment of up to one year) and lesser offenses, and also conducts a ...
References
External links
Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bronx Defenders
Criminal justice reform in the United States
Criminal defense organizations
Non-profit organizations based in the Bronx
Legal advocacy organizations in the United States
Public defense institutions
Legal aid in the United States
The Bronx Defenders