Bronx Defenders is a legal services organization for indigent clients in the Bronx, New York. Bronx Defenders has litigated cases to limit the police’s ability to stop and frisk, worked to end cash bail in New York City, worked to close Rikers Island prison, created a free bail fund for those with misdemeanor charges, and worked to end loitering statutes. Bronx Defenders seeks to end mandatory minimum prison sentences and wants to establish a presumption against incarceration that would require those found guilty be given a hearing before any incarceration is imposed. ^{1 2}

Bronx Defenders advocates that local law enforcement not work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and seeks to deny ICE contracts with any state or local entity. Bronx Defenders seeks to mandate that anyone facing eviction from housing must be provided an attorney and any juvenile facing interrogation by the police must be automatically provided an attorney before questioning and cannot waive this right. ^{3 4 5}

Bronx Defenders represents parents in child welfare investigations, ⁶ provides free legal services to illegal aliens facing deportation, ⁷ and assists residents in filing claims against police officers and other public officials for misconduct. ⁸ Bronx Defenders supports allowing those incarcerated, on parole, and those who were convicted of felonies to vote. ⁹

History

Bronx Defenders was formed in 1997 to provide legal services to indigent clients in the Bronx borough of New York City. ¹⁰ Bronx Defenders attorneys work with other advocates to identify causes associated with run-ins with the criminal justice system, provide various legal services, and advocate for individualized alternatives to incarceration. ¹¹

Since 1997, Bronx Defenders has grown from representing 12,500 people per year to 27,000 people per year in criminal, civil, child welfare, and immigration cases. ¹² Its approach has been copied or emulated in St. Louis by the ArchCity Defenders, in Oakland, California; in Wisconsin, and in Massachusetts. ¹³

Positions

Bronx Defenders and the Bronx Freedom Fund contend that incarceration is part of the criminalization of race and poverty. ¹⁴ Bronx Defenders backs an initiative to reform bail in New York State and took a lead role in advocating for the closure of Rikers Island prison. ¹⁵ Bronx Defenders advocates a right to counsel for anyone in New York City facing eviction from housing. ¹⁶ The organization also advances a youth interrogation bill that would mandate that youth suspects receive automatic counsel and that youth suspects cannot waive their Miranda rights. ¹⁷

Bronx Defenders advocates ending mandatory minimum prison sentences and creating a presumption against incarceration requiring a hearing before any period of incarceration can be imposed. ¹⁸  Bronx Defenders proposes a “second look” policy where people serving long sentences have a chance to demonstrate that they have changed after years in prison and that their current sentence is no longer appropriate. ¹⁹

Bronx Defenders seeks a law prohibiting local law enforcement cooperation or anyone in New York State from going into business with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, thus making New York State a “sanctuary state” and ending ICE local assistance and contracts with local jails. ²⁰

Bronx Defenders wants a law mandating that anyone paroled, incarcerated, or who has a felony conviction must receive education on how to register and be allowed to vote. ²¹

Legal Areas

Through the Bronx Defenders’ holistic approach to the legal system, clients  are connected to a team of criminal defense attorneys, family defense attorneys, civil attorneys, immigration attorneys, social workers, parent advocates, civil legal advocates, benefits specialists, investigators, and community organizers. ²²

Criminal Defense

The criminal defense practice at Bronx Defenders challenged how New York City set bail and argued before the Court of Appeals (New York’s highest court) that cash-only bail violates the law. ²³ The criminal defense practice challenged stop and frisk practices, unlawful trespass arrests, and “exaggerated marijuana charges.” ²⁴ The criminal defense practice has a forensic practice group to litigate cases involving DNA, eyewitness identification, ballistics, and digital evidence. ²⁵

The criminal defense practice founded the Bronx Freedom Fund in 2007 to pay bail for people accused of misdemeanors. ²⁶ The Bronx Freedom Fund has since become its own nonprofit and stopped posting bail in 2020 after New York City ended cash bail. ²⁷ However, after subsequent rollbacks on ending cash bail, the fund is active again to provide bail funding. ²⁸

Bronx Defenders’ Bronx Freedom Fund has grown into another nonprofit, the Bail Project, a separate nonprofit fund to pay bail nationwide. ²⁹ The Bail Project now has locations in Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, and Washington. ³⁰

Family Defense

The family defense practice represents parents in child welfare investigations. Bronx Defenders now represents 85 percent of parents in child welfare investigation cases in the Bronx Family Court system. Family defense represents pregnant mothers who already have children in child-protective services arguing to not automatically give up children to foster care at birth. The family defense practice argues to keep families together and connects families with resources and prevention services. ³¹

Civil Action Practice

The civil action practice at Bronx Defenders works on collateral issues to the criminal defense practice. The civil action practice fights civil forfeiture laws and represents Bronx residents desiring to get their cars, cash, or other property back after being seized by police and prosecutors. ³²

The civil practice holds monthly community clinics on holding police and government officials accountable for misconduct and assists in filing claims. The civil action practice assists clients in correcting any mistakes and sealing criminal court records. The civil section has also successfully challenged stop and frisk practices by police and unlawful loitering statutes. ³³

Immigration Defense

The Bronx Defenders, through the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project, is one of three providers of free representation to detained illegal aliens in removal proceedings. The immigration defense practice supports non-citizens through a criminal, civil, or family court proceeding to make informed decisions to protect immigration status. Immigration defense also represents clients and advises on eligibility to apply for citizenship, adjustment of status, green card renewals, employment authorization, special immigrant juvenile status, and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. ³⁴

Finances

According to tax filings, in 2023 Bronx Defenders reported net assets of $6,657,028. In 2023, Bronx Defenders recorded $58,801,199 in revenue and had $59,553,010 in expenses. ³⁵ In 2022, Bronx Defenders reported $51,806,033 in revenue and had $50,260,060 in expenses. ³⁶

Leadership

Juval Scott was named executive director of Bronx Defenders in June 2024. ³⁷ Previously, Scott was the director at the National Sentencing Resource Counsel, federal public defender for the Western District of Virginia, attorney advisor at the Defender Services Office Training Division, assistant federal defender at Federal Defender Services of Wisconsin, assistant federal defender at Indiana Federal Community Defenders, and an associate at the law firm Lee Cossell Kuehn and Love. Scott has a law degree from Indiana University. ³⁸

1. “2024 Policy Agenda.” The Bronx Defenders. 2024. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/BxD-Day-of-Action-Policy-Agenda.pdf.
2. “2024 Policy Agenda.” The Bronx Defenders. 2024. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/BxD-Day-of-Action-Policy-Agenda.pdf.
3. “2024 Policy Agenda.” The Bronx Defenders. 2024. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/BxD-Day-of-Action-Policy-Agenda.pdf.
4. “Civil Action Practice.” The Bronx Defenders. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/our-work/civil-action-practice/.
5. “2024 Policy Agenda.” The Bronx Defenders. 2024. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/BxD-Day-of-Action-Policy-Agenda.pdf.
6. “Family Defense Practice.” The Bronx Defenders. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/our-work/family-defense-practice/.
7. “Immigration Defense.” The Bronx Defenders. August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/our-work/immigration-defense/.
8. “Civil Action Practice.” The Bronx Defenders. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/our-work/civil-action-practice/.
9. “2024 Policy Agenda.” The Bronx Defenders. 2024. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/BxD-Day-of-Action-Policy-Agenda.pdf.
10. “Our Community and Clients.” The Bronx Defenders. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/clients-community/community/.
11. “Criminal Defense Practice.” The Bronx Defenders. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/our-work/.
12. “Criminal Defense Practice.” The Bronx Defenders. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/our-work/; “Mission and Story.” The Bronx Defenders. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/who-we-are/.
13. Addo, Koran. “ArchCity Defenders Saw Problems with Municipal Courts Before Ferguson Turmoil.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch. April 15, 2015. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/st-louis-post-dispatch-archcity-defenders-saw-problems-with-municipal-courts-before-ferguson-turmoil/.
14. “The Bronx Freedom Fund.” The Bronx Freedom Fund. Accessed August 11, 2024. http://www.thebronxfreedomfund.org.
15. “Bail Reform Initiative.” The Bronx Defenders. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/programs/bail-reform-initiative/.
16. “Civil Action Practice.” The Bronx Defenders. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/our-work/civil-action-practice/.
17. “2024 Policy Agenda.” The Bronx Defenders. 2024. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/BxD-Day-of-Action-Policy-Agenda.pdf.
18. “2024 Policy Agenda.” The Bronx Defenders. 2024. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/BxD-Day-of-Action-Policy-Agenda.pdf.
19. “2024 Policy Agenda.” The Bronx Defenders. 2024. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/BxD-Day-of-Action-Policy-Agenda.pdf.
20. “2024 Policy Agenda.” The Bronx Defenders. 2024. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/BxD-Day-of-Action-Policy-Agenda.pdf.
21. “2024 Policy Agenda.” The Bronx Defenders. 2024. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/BxD-Day-of-Action-Policy-Agenda.pdf.
22. “Explore Holistic Defenses.” The Bronx Defenders. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/who-we-are/how-we-work/.
23. “Criminal Defense Practice.” The Bronx Defenders. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/our-work/.
24. “Criminal Defense Practice.” The Bronx Defenders. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/our-work/.
25. “Criminal Defense Practice.” The Bronx Defenders. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/our-work/.
26. “Bail Reform Initiative.” The Bronx Defenders. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/programs/bail-reform-initiative/.
27. “The Bronx Freedom Fund.” The Bronx Freedom Fund. Accessed August 11, 2024. http://www.thebronxfreedomfund.org. “Bail Reform Initiative.” The Bronx Defenders. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/programs/bail-reform-initiative/.
28. “Bail Reform Initiative.” The Bronx Defenders. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/programs/bail-reform-initiative/; “The Bronx Freedom Fund.” The Bronx Freedom Fund. Accessed August 11, 2024. http://www.thebronxfreedomfund.org.
29. “Bail Reform Initiative.” The Bronx Defenders. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/programs/bail-reform-initiative/.
30. “Annual Report 2023.” The Bail Project. 2023. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://bailproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/the_bail_project_2023_annual_report_audit.pdf.
31. “Family Defense Practice.” The Bronx Defenders. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/our-work/family-defense-practice/.
32.  “Civil Action Practice.” The Bronx Defenders. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/our-work/civil-action-practice/.
33. “Civil Action Practice.” The Bronx Defenders. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/our-work/civil-action-practice/.
34. “Immigration Defense.” The Bronx Defenders. August 11, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/our-work/immigration-defense/.
35. The Bronx Defenders, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2023.
36. The Bronx Defenders, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2022.
37. “The Bronx Defenders Welcomes Juval O. Scott as Its Next Executive Director.” The Bronx Defenders. June 24, 2024. Accessed August 10, 2024. https://www.bronxdefenders.org/the-bronx-defenders-welcomes-juval-o-scott-as-its-next-executive-director/.
38. “Juval Scott.” LinkedIn. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/juval-scott-a39bb46/details/experience/.