After a decision by Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez to vacate over 370 convictions where the purported evidence of guilt was obtained or produced by 13 discredited police officers, Legal Aid is calling on DAs throughout the city to act with transparency and accountability when it comes to police misconduct.

“The Legal Aid Society commends District Attorney Gonzalez for his decisive action to dismiss these cases. While we applaud this decision, the people prosecuted in these cases were forced to endure hardships that should never have happened to begin with,” said Elizabeth Felber, Director of the Wrongful Conviction Unit at The Legal Aid Society. “Some individuals lost years of their lives serving prison sentences and many suffered collateral harm including housing instability, loss of employment, and severed access to critical services all because of the words of these corrupt police officers.”

“We urge DA Gonzalez and all of the other New York City District Attorneys to conduct these reviews on an ongoing basis and with full transparency, not just in response to public pressure, but as their duty to ‘do justice,’” she continued. “To do otherwise erodes the public’s trust in law enforcement and the criminal legal system.”