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Projects, Units & Initiatives
The Law Reform team of the Criminal Defense Practice addresses systemic legal issues affecting the rights of Legal Aid’s public defense clients, from police misconduct to the rights of incarcerated people, and from bail reform to parole reform. The team also houses several strategic initiatives designed to address the unmet needs of people whose lives have been affected by the police, prosecutorial, and carceral systems. In all our work, we leverage Legal Aid’s unique role as New York City’s largest and oldest provider of direct legal services, including our presence in all five boroughs and on-the-ground experience with interconnected legal systems, and work to center the experiences of our clients and empower them to fight back against systemic barriers to justice.
The Policy Unit leads Legal Aid’s policy work on issues relating to criminal justice in both the New York State legislature and the New York City Council. The unit works closely with subject matter experts throughout Legal Aid to regularly develop or comment on policy proposals, provide testimony to the state and city legislatures, and engage in coalition-building with civil society and community groups, fellow defender organizations, and other stakeholders to ensure that the rights of our clients are respected and their needs are met.
The Special Litigation Unit develops ground-breaking impact litigation and innovative policy initiatives, builds coalitions with other community organizations and leaders, engages in public education and media advocacy, and collaborates with our colleagues across the criminal defense practice to grapple with novel legal issues arising in their daily practice. Learn More.
The Cop Accountability Project is a strategic initiative within the Special Litigation Unit that empowers defenders, civil rights organizations, journalists and communities across New York City to hold police officers accountable for human rights violations by maintaining the Law Enforcement Lookup database of police misconduct. The project also advocates for greater transparency and accountability regarding police harassment and abuse. Learn More.
The Prisoners’ Rights Project is a leading advocate of humane and constitutional conditions in the New York City jails and State prisons. The Project seeks to dismantle the oppression and racism of the carceral system by protecting the safety and basic human rights of the people who are subjected to it. Learn More.
The Decarceration Project is a strategic initiative that fights to make pre-trial detention, commonly referred to as bail, the exception, not the rule, by working alongside public defenders in all five boroughs to ensure as many of our clients return to their communities after arrest as possible and fighting for systemic policy changes that reduce the City’s over-reliance on pre-trial incarceration. Learn More.
The Incarcerated Client Services Unit is a strategic initiative that provides legal representation to almost all people held in City jails who are appealing disciplinary infractions and classification decisions. These appeals include challenges to a person’s segregation from the general population, loss of their good time credit, their placement in restraints, loss of their visitation rights, and false classifications like “gang member” or “contraband recipient.”. The unit coordinates intake relating to incarcerated clients’ needs and manages the delivery of client services. The unit also helps the Law Reform team identify systemic issues facing Legal Aid’s incarcerated clients and contributes to policy advocacy to address those issues.
The Community Justice Unit combines the unit’s community organizing with its work on the Cure Violence model for gun violence prevention. The unit of lawyers and paralegals support community-based organizations that see gun violence as a public health crisis by providing wrap-around legal services to program participants, supporting the legal needs of participating organizations, and curating know-your-rights trainings. The unit’s community organizing further supports that work with community empowerment events, and it also links Legal Aid’s client community to our broader law reform, strategic litigation and policy agenda. Learn More.