Robin Steinberg

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Robin Steinberg is an American lawyer and social justice advocate [1] who is currently the chief executive officer of the Bail Project, [2] an organization modeled after The Bronx Freedom Fund, which she founded with her husband David Feige in 2007. [3] [4] Steinberg is the founder and former executive director of The Bronx Defenders, a community-based public defense office serving low-income New Yorkers in the Bronx since 1997, [5] and the director of Still She Rises, Tulsa, [6] "the first public defender office in the nation dedicated exclusively to the representation of mothers in the criminal justice system". [7] At The Bronx Defenders, Steinberg created The Center for Holistic Defense, [8] a program that trains public defender offices across the country to replicate The Bronx Defenders’ model of holistic defense. [9]

Contents

Steinberg has spoken at TED, [10] and taught at Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School, [11] the University of Virginia School of Law, Seton Hall University School of Law and UCLA School of Law. [12]

Early life and education

Steinberg was born and raised in New York City in a Jewish household. After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley in 1978 [13] with a degree in Women’s Studies, Steinberg moved back to New York to attend the New York University School of Law to begin a career in women’s rights law. During her time at NYU Law, Steinberg enrolled in a clinic called the Women’s Prison Project. [14]

Career

The Bail Project

In November 2017, with support from The Audacious Project, a TED philanthropic initiative, [15] Steinberg launched The Bail Project, a national nonprofit that provides free bail assistance and pretrial support to thousands of low-income people every year. According to Steinberg, the organization’s ultimate goal is “put ourselves out of business, having demonstrated that money and profit should have no role in criminal justice, and leaving behind a blueprint for how to support people during the pretrial process.” [16] The organization currently works with public defense offices and community partners in more than a dozen cities, posting bail for people in need and supporting them through court reminders, transportation assistance, and voluntary referrals to social services. [17] Assets of $22,547,817 and income of $24,783,751 were reported in 2018. [18]

In April 2019, a St. Louis man who received free bail assistance from The Bail Project was charged with fatally injuring his wife after being released pretrial.  In response to the incident, Steinberg said, "No one could have predicted this tragedy. It’s important to remember that had he been wealthy enough to afford his bail, or bonded out by a commercial bail bond agency, he would have been free pretrial as well. In times like this, we must come together for this family and keep sight of the need to transform the larger systems that create poverty, racism and violence, including the pretrial bail system." The Riverfront Times, a publication in St. Louis, wrote that The Bail Project had simply posted a bail amount that had been set by the local criminal justice system, adding, "If a friend or relative of Scott had posted the bail, no one would be blaming that person for the ensuing tragedy, nor should they. Ditto for a bail bondsman." [19]

Still She Rises

In January 2017, Steinberg launched Still She Rises, Tulsa, a project of The Bronx Defenders and the first public defender office in the country dedicated exclusively to the representation of women with children in the criminal justice system. [20] Oklahoma incarcerates a higher percentage of women than any other state and more than double the national average. [21] Still She Rises brings the holistic model of public defense pioneered by The Bronx Defenders to low-income women in the North Tulsa community. [22]

Center for Holistic Defense

In 2010, Steinberg received funding from the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance [23] to begin the Center for Holistic Defense, the training and technical assistance arm of The Bronx Defenders. Each year for five years, the Center selected between three and six defender offices for intensive training, including site visits at defenders’ offices and The Bronx Defenders, on how to adopt holistic defense practices. [24] Steinberg has trained over 25 defender offices, ranging from large, statewide public defender systems such as the Wisconsin State Public Defender [25] to small, local groups like the Tribal Defenders for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in Montana. [26]

The Bronx Defenders

In 1997, Steinberg and a small group of advocates founded The Bronx Defenders, a community-based public defender office in the South Bronx. The Bronx Defenders now has a staff of over 300 attorneys, advocates, and social workers who represent more than 35,000 low-income [27] New Yorkers each year. By engaging in legislative advocacy, pursuing impact litigation, and offering training and technical assistance to other public defender organizations, The Bronx Defenders bridges the gap between a traditional direct service organization and a policy organization, seeking to ensure justice and dignity for criminal justice-involved people in the Bronx and beyond.

Related Research Articles

Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the Court ruled that the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution requires U.S. states to provide attorneys to criminal defendants who are unable to afford their own. The case extended the right to counsel, which had been found under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments to impose requirements on the federal government, by imposing those requirements upon the states as well.

A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Hungary and Singapore, and some states of Australia. Brazil is the only country in which an office of government-paid lawyers with the specific purpose of providing full legal assistance and representation to the needy free of charge is established in the constitution. The Sixth Amendment to the US Constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, requires the US government to provide legal counsel to indigent defendants in criminal cases. Public defenders in the United States are lawyers employed by or under contract with county, state or federal governments.

A "failure to appear" (FTA) occurs when a defendant or respondent does not come before a tribunal as directed in a summons. FTAs are also known as "bail jumping". In the United States, FTAs are punishable by fines, incarceration, or both when committed by a criminal defendant. The severity of the punishment depends on the seriousness of the criminal charges that were the subject of the missed proceeding. An FTA may trigger a bench warrant for the defendant's arrest and impair their eligibility for bail and pretrial release in subsequent proceedings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bail bondsman</span> Agent that secures an individuals release in court

A bail bondsman, bail bond agent or bond dealer is any person, agency or corporation that will act as a surety and pledge money or property as bail for the appearance of a defendant in court.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York City Criminal Court</span> Court for misdemeanors, arraignments, and preliminary hearings

The Criminal Court of the City of New York is a court of the State Unified Court System in New York City that handles misdemeanors and lesser offenses, and also conducts arraignments and preliminary hearings in felony cases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Neufeld</span> American attorney

Peter J. Neufeld is an American attorney, co-founder, with Barry Scheck of the Innocence Project, and a founding partner in the civil rights law firm Neufeld Scheck & Brustin. Starting from his earliest years as an attorney representing clients at New York's Legal Aid Society, and teaching trial advocacy at Fordham School of Law from 1988 to 1991, he has focused on civil rights and the intersection of science and criminal justice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Feige</span>

David Feige is an American lawyer, legal commentator, and author. He is the author of the memoir, Indefensible: One Lawyer's Journey into the Inferno of American Justice, and co-creator of the TNT legal drama Raising the Bar, both of which center on the life of the public defender. He is also the co-founder and board chair of The Bronx Freedom Fund, a charitable bail organization in New York State. In 2016 he won the Albert Maysles New Documentary Director Award for "Untouchable" a documentary feature he wrote, produced and directed. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pre-trial detention</span> Detention after arrest and charge until a trial

Pre-trial detention, also known as preventive detention, provisional detention, or remand is the process of detaining a person until their trial after they have been arrested and charged with an offence. A person who is on remand is held in a prison or detention centre or held under house arrest. Varying terminology is used, but "remand" is generally used in common law jurisdictions and "preventive detention" elsewhere. However, in the United States, "remand" is rare except in official documents and "kept in custody until trial" is used in the media and even by judges and lawyers in addressing the public. Detention before charge is referred to as custody and continued detention after conviction is referred to as imprisonment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kerry Kennedy</span> American human rights activist (1959-)

Mary Kerry Kennedy is an American lawyer, author and human rights activist. She is the seventh child and third daughter of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy. During her 15-year marriage to former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, from 1990 to 2005, she was known as Kerry Kennedy-Cuomo. She is the president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, a non-profit human rights advocacy organization.

Pretrial services programs are procedures in the United States to prepare cases for trial in court. In most jurisdictions pretrial services programs operate at the county level. Six US states operate and fund pretrial services programs at the state level. The US federal courts system operates pretrial services in all 94 federal districts.

Bail in the United States refers to the practice of releasing suspects from custody before their hearing, on payment of bail, which is money or pledge of property to the court which may be refunded if suspects return to court for their trial. Bail practices in the United States vary from state to state.

The Bronx Defenders is a public defender office located in the South Bronx neighborhood of New York City. At the Bronx Defenders, criminal defense lawyers work together with civil lawyers, family defense lawyers, immigration lawyers, non-attorney advocates, social workers, and investigators to help their clients address the full range of legal and social issues that can result from criminal charges. The Bronx Defenders are a contracted public defender for New York City, along with the Legal Aid Society, New York County Defender Services in Manhattan, Brooklyn Defender Services in Brooklyn, Queens Law Associates in Queens, and the Neighborhood Defender Service in northern Manhattan.

In the United States, a public defender is a lawyer appointed by the courts and provided by the state or federal governments to represent and advise those who cannot afford to hire a private attorney. Public defenders are full-time attorneys employed by the state or federal governments. The public defender program is one of several types of criminal legal aid in the United States.

The Bronx Freedom Fund is a nonprofit bail fund located in the South Bronx. The first charitable bail organization in New York State, it provides bail assistance to indigent defendants facing pretrial detention for low-level and misdemeanor charges. It was founded by David Feige, a producer, writer, and law professor, and Robin Steinberg, the founder and chief executive of The Bronx Defenders. Its first grant came from the CEO of Lava Records, Jason Flom, and the Flom Family Foundation.

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The San Francisco Public Defender's Office is an agency of the Government of San Francisco. Since 1921, it has provided legal assistance to indigent individuals charged with violations of California state law by the San Francisco District Attorney's Office.

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The International Legal Foundation (ILF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 2001. It is focused on establishing and strengthening criminal legal aid systems around the world. In addition to its technical assistance work with foreign governments, the ILF provides direct legal aid services through its multiple in-country offices. To date, ILF lawyers have defended more than 60,000 accused individuals worldwide.

A bail fund is an organization, often charitable, community and volunteer-driven, or both, that collects money for the purpose of posting monetary bail for those in jail on pre-trial detention. Recipients may include those who cannot afford bail on their own or those who are in jail due to being arrested while protesting. Community bail funds determine their own criteria for eligibility and amount of bail that they will support. As of 2020, there are over 60 community bail funds around the United States represented in the National Bail Fund Network.

The Bail Project is a 501 (c)(3) non profit organization aiming to pay bail for people who are not financially capable of doing so themselves. The Bail Project also provides pretrial services. The Bail Project was founded in 2017 by Robin Steinberg. In January 2018, the organization launched its first site as a national operation. As of 2020, it has 22 locations across the United States and has helped pay bail for over 12,000 people.

Cynthia Ellen Jones is a criminal defense attorney and professor of law at the American University Washington College of Law specializing in criminal law and procedure as well as bail reform. Jones is an expert in racial disparities in the pretrial system and was previously the Director of the Public Defenders Service in Washington, D.C. She is a leading scholar in criminal procedure. In 2011, she was awarded the American University Faculty Award for Outstanding Teaching. Jones was the director of the Stephen S. Weinstein Trial Advocacy Program at the university. She has written three textbooks related to criminal law and procedure.

References

  1. ↑ Gogolak, E. C. (2013-10-11). "New, Young Help for Poor in Infamous Bronx Courts". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2017-11-27.
  2. ↑ Patrick, Robert. "Nonprofit will use $16 million bail fund to free people from American jails, including in St. Louis". stltoday.com. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
  3. ↑ "Bail "disrupters" aim to free 160,000 people from U.S. jails". NBC News. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
  4. ↑ "The Problem with NYC's Bail Reform". The Marshall Project. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
  5. ↑ "Our Mission and Story". The Bronx Defenders. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
  6. ↑ "Our Team". Still She Rises, a Holistic Defense Project of The Bronx Defenders based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
  7. ↑ Vincent, Samantha. "Holistic legal aid program begins taking clients in north Tulsa". Tulsa World. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
  8. ↑ "The Bronx Defenders Seek to Promote Holistic Defense | Center for Court Innovation". www.courtinnovation.org. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
  9. ↑ "The Center For Holistic Defense". The Bronx Defenders. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
  10. ↑ "TED2018: The Age of Amazement | April 10–14, 2018 | Vancouver, BC, Canada". ted2018.ted.com. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
  11. ↑ "Robin Steinberg". Columbia Law School. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
  12. ↑ "Trailblazing Advocate Robin Steinberg Joins UCLA Law Criminal Justice Program". law.ucla.edu. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
  13. ↑ "Biography Page". law.ucla.edu. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
  14. ↑ "Alumnus/Alumna of the Month | NYU School of Law". www.law.nyu.edu. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
  15. ↑ "Announcing ... The Audacious Project". www.linkedin.com. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
  16. ↑ "Chicago Bar Association - The Future is Now 2.019: Reforming the Cash Bail System with Robin Steinberg and the Bail Project". www.linkedin.com. 19 June 2019. Retrieved 2019-11-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  17. ↑ "Our Approach". The Bail Project. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
  18. ↑ "Bail Project Inc. | Charity Navigator Profile". Charity Navigator. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  19. ↑ Hartmann, Ray. "Don't Blame the Bail Project for Marcia Johnson's Murder". Riverfront Times. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
  20. ↑ Fisher, Rich. "Still She Rises: Bringing a "Holistic Defense" Approach to Assisting the Mothers of North Tulsa" . Retrieved 2018-04-11.
  21. ↑ Winkler, Elizabeth (2018-01-02). "Why Oklahoma Has the Most Women Per Capita in Prison". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved 2018-04-11.
  22. ↑ World, Samantha Vicent Tulsa. "Holistic legal aid program Still She Rises begins taking clients in north Tulsa". Tulsa World. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
  23. ↑ Drucker, Ernest (2018-02-20). Decarcerating America: From Mass Punishment to Public Health. The New Press. ISBN   9781620972793.
  24. ↑ "The Center For Holistic Defense". The Bronx Defenders. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
  25. ↑ "Public Defender Offices Eligible for Free Technical Assistance". The Bronx Defenders. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
  26. ↑ "The Center for Holistic Defense Announces Technical Assistance Winners". The Bronx Defenders. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
  27. ↑ "The Bronx Defenders". The Bronx Defenders. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
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