Cohort 2024
The Bronx Defenders
Improving Hotline Technology to Prevent Incarceration through Early Access to Legal Advocacy
Bronx County, NY
In New York City, Black and Latine/Hispanic residents are disproportionately stopped by the police, arrested, and incarcerated. Whereas the police and courts have vast resources at all stages of the criminal legal system, those most affected by that system can most often only attain legal counsel after arrest. The Bronx Defenders, a public-defender nonprofit based in Bronx County, New York, provides low-income, predominantly Black and Latine/Hispanic Bronx residents with legal counsel before arrest through its Early Defense Team hotline. The Early Defense Team aims to intervene early enough to help clients build a robust defense to enable them to navigate the criminal legal system while avoiding the devastating collateral consequences of arrest, including job and housing loss, visa endangerment, family separation, and lifelong trauma.
With Catalyst Grant funding, the Bronx Defenders will improve the availability and effectiveness of its Early Defense Team hotline to support the Bronx residents most likely to be targeted by the police for surveillance, punishment, and life disruption. By improving the technical setup and staffing of the hotline, and by creating an integrated and robust call queue and data-collection system, the organization will enable community members to quickly and efficiently connect to appropriate legal support before arrest or court proceedings. In addition, by collecting data about calls to the hotline, the Bronx Defenders will learn how to improve upon its award-winning holistic model of providing defense to those seeking legal assistance before legal system involvement, continuing to innovate on the delivery of outstanding representation to 20,000 clients a year.
