ISSUES
New York’s criminal justice system is broken. It disproportionately targets and impacts poor communities and communities of color; it fails to keep our communities safe; and it traps families in generational cycles of poverty
and incarceration.
NYUJ advocates for common sense reforms to transform our criminal justice system, beginning with the
most critical, unfair, and dangerous aspects of it.
COVID-19
The novel coronavirus presents an unprecedented threat to the health and welfare of everyone in the criminal justice system: from officers of the court to incarcerated people and their families. Within 48 hours of New York’s first infection cluster, NYUJ began advocating for dramatic action to slow its spread and protect New Yorkers in the system.
PRETRIAL REFORM
Bail and discovery reform are critical to the safety and welfare of New York State residents. Learn more about our work educating the public and lawmakers about pretrial reforms.
PAROLE REFORM
New York’s parole system is onerous, destructive, and criminogenic. Instead of transitioning formerly incarcerated back to society safely, it reincarcerates people at an alarming rate. Learn about how parole should work and what New York must do to fix its system.
CLEMENCY
Executive clemency is a powerful tool in the fight for fairness and to correct historic biases in the criminal justice system. But it is vastly underutilized and poorly understood.
CIVIL RIGHTS LAW 50-A
Law enforcement interaction with the public has a critical impact on public safety and the effectiveness of our criminal justice system. But New Yorkers, especially those charged with crimes, do not have a full picture of law enforcement conduct that affects them.
POLICE DECEPTION
In New York, police interrogators are permitted to use the “false evidence ploy” in which they present false evidence or otherwise false statements as true to secure confessions from New Yorkers.
FINES AND FEES
In New York, virtually any interaction with the legal system – from a simple speeding ticket to a serious criminal conviction – comes with fines and fees that on their own can lead to unjust incarceration and disrupt successful reentry for low income New Yorkers.
SECOND LOOK SENTENCING
Despite recent sentencing reforms and a declining prison population, a large portion of New York’s prison population is still serving a lengthy prison sentence.
© 2022 New Yorkers United for Justice
New Yorkers United for Justice is a fiscal project of Dream Corps.
NYUJ
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New York, NY 10001