ACP coordinates the assignment of attorneys to represent individuals who cannot afford to retain an attorney in various Criminal and Family Court matters.
NYC judges have a reliable tool predicting who will return to court. A new study shows they often ignore it, jailing people likely to appear voluntarily. Judges stray from the tool’s guidance most often for Black and Hispanic defendants, deepening racial disparities. ... See MoreSee Less
Joanna Weill of the Data Collaborative for Justice talks about its new study that finds judges are more likely to ignore release recommendations for Black defendants.
What had seemed like a routine hospital procedure in December 2021 took on a very different meaning a few months later, when Jedynak discovered that police in her state were using DNA extracted from newborns' blood — collected under the mandatory disease-screening program — to search for criminal suspects. ... See MoreSee Less
Across the U.S., health departments draw small blood samples from newborns' heels to test for metabolic and genetic disorders. After a new mother discovered that New Jersey police had used DNA extract...
“The pretrial release assessment provides empirically grounded guidance to judges making release decisions, while still allowing for discretion for case-specific circumstances,” said Joanna Weill, associate director of research at DCJ. “More consistent use of these recommendations would foster fairness by limiting the extent to which outcomes depend on the judge assigned.” ... See MoreSee Less
Judges in New York City frequently override official pretrial release recommendations, leading to unnecessary pretrial incarceration and widening racial disparities in bail decisions, according to new...