Scott Hechinger is an American civil rights attorney, former public defender and the founder and executive director of Zealous, a nonprofit organization that trains public defenders and activists to use media, technology, the arts, and storytelling to shape criminal justice policy. Hechinger teaches at Columbia Law School as an adjunct professor. [1]
Hechinger graduated from Duke University in 2004 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and earned his Juris Doctor degree from New York University School of Law. Upon graduation, he was awarded the "Ann Petluck Poses Memorial Prize" for excellence in clinical work and was named a Florence Allen Scholar. [1]
After law school, he clerked for Judge Raymond Dearie on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. [1] Hechinger then worked as an attorney for the Partnership for Children's Rights where he represented children and families in special education litigation. [1]
Hechinger began work as a public defender for the Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS) in 2012. Hechinger was long outspoken about his frustration of not being able to do individual or systemic justice work given the limitation of court. [2] Hechinger co-founded the Brooklyn Community bail fund, now called Envision Freedom Fund. [3]
As a public defender, he exposed the perjury of a NYPD officer that resulted in a wrongful conviction. [4] He criticized ICE agents targeting and arresting non-citizens when they appeared in court. [5] [6] He alleged that there was a group of NYPD officers who invented criminal informants to meet quotas. [7] He challenged the prosecutorial practice of charging young single mothers with Endangerment for leaving their children alone for short periods of time to run necessary errands and even to give birth. [8] Hechinger raised awareness about the NYPD arresting people for the use of THC vape pens even after NYPD pledged to stop marijuana arrests. [9] [10]
Hechinger was outspoken about the unjust practices in New York criminal courts. [11] [12] In 2017, Hechinger began to use Twitter to spread awareness about the injustices he witnessed in New York courtrooms. [13]
Hechinger founded and directs Zealous, a national advocacy and education initiative, aimed at supporting and organizing public defenders and community advocates to better tell the stories of injustice in the American criminal legal system.
In 2022, Zealous brought together allies in the Chicago community for the Chicago Transformation Collab, a summit and storytelling training, and public arts festival to build alignment and strategy. [14]
Hechinger has collaborated with Fiona Apple on multiple campaigns and projects, including access to courts, court watching, a film on how to safely record interactions with ICE agents, [15] and telling the stories of injustice in Prince George's County, Maryland criminal courts. [16] [17] He also worked with Apple to advocate for fair trials in Oregon. [18] [19]
Hechinger regularly writes and provides commentary about issues related to the American criminal legal system.
Hechinger has been an advocate for bail reform for many years. [20] In 2018, he told NowThis News that “Here’s what’s crazy: five minutes is over five times longer than the time it takes judges in the criminal court where I practice to decide to jail one of my clients pretrial, presumed innocent until their case is over, on cash bail they can’t possibly afford.” [21]
He has written about bail reform in New York. [22] [23] [24] Hechinger told NBC News in 2022 that "it's misleading to tie bail changes to crime surges because 'reforms happened in very few places, rising crime happened everywhere.'" [25]
He has argued that mandatory minimum sentencing enables police misconduct. [26]
Hechinger regularly criticizes the news media for their coverage of crime and criminal justice policies. [27] [28] [29] Hechinger has noted that many journalists seek out sensational stories about bail reform. [30] He has argued that there is a pro-police worldview deeply engrained in journalism (see also: copaganda). [31]
He has criticized The New York Times including for their use of data in reporting on crime. [32]
Hechinger believes that excessive prison sentences for cannabis offenses are egregious and that police interactions for cannabis are "unnecessary and unjust." [33] [34] In response to U.S. President Joe Biden calling for the release of Brittney Griner, Hechinger wrote: "Joe Biden's calling for her [Griner’s] release and talking about how unjust a nine-year sentence is—40,000 people today are incarcerated for marijuana offenses in the United States, even as the legal cannabis industry is booming.” [33] [35]
In the response to the Supreme Court of the United States's May 2022 ruling that innocence is not enough to overturn a murder conviction, he wrote: "Know this: Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it is perfectly Constitutional to imprison and execute people, *even those who have evidence of their innocence & inadequate counsel.* Not just that: They ruled the Constitution prohibits even evidentiary hearings to look into it." [36]
Hechinger has been critical of the American criminal justice system. He advocates for more investment in affordable housing, mental health and substance abuse treatment, and poverty alleviation. [37] [38] He has criticized the conditions at Rikers Island jail complex, [39] and at the Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn. [40] He has advocated for the closure of Rikers. [41] He has criticized the foster care system in New York. [8]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hechinger advocated for the release of people from jails and prisons to the protect the health of those who were incarcerated. [42] [43] He helped found the "Gasping for Justice" Project. [44] He raised awareness about a COVID-19 outbreak in Prince George's County, Maryland jails. [45]
Hechinger told Mother Jones : "We, as a society, spend more on policing, prosecution, and prisons than any other society in the history of the world. And still, we are not the most healthy or safe society in the history of the world. And so we should be questioning why that is.” [46]
In response to jail sentence of Jussie Smollett, Hechinger wrote: "However you feel about Jussie Smollett & what he did, why does any jailtime, let alone 150 days make sense? Enormous taxpayer cost. His careers deeply damaged so punishment’s exacted. Forget rehabilitation: he’ll come out far more damaged than when he went in. A costly waste.” [47] He said of the trial of the men convicted of killing Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia state court, "To me, the trials underscore how ill-equipped the criminal legal system, process, and punishment is to achieve accountability and healing." [48] In response to Paul Manafort's prison sentence, Hechinger wrote: “For context on Manafort’s 47 months in prison, my client yesterday was offered 36-72 months in prison for stealing $100 worth of quarters from a residential laundry room.” [49] [50]
Hechinger has reported on the practice of some police to initiate arrests for low-level offenses at the end of their shifts in order to collect overtime pay. [51] Hechinger has criticized the New York Police Department for police brutality, [52] [53] [54] and corruption. [55] He has also questioned the efficacy of policing "reforms" in New York. [56] He has criticized the NYPD for arresting people for evading subway fare. [57]
Hechinger believes that crime stoppers hotlines encourage sketchy tips and harm low-income criminal defendants. [58] He has argued that prosecutors should not accept cases from officers with documented credibility issues. [59]
He has criticized Nassau County prosecutors for targeting Black and Brown people with felony charges for traffic-related infractions. [60] He criticized NY prosecutors for using DNA evidence to coerce plea bargains. [61]
Hechinger criticized Attorney General William Barr for his refusal to acknowledge the role that racism plays in the American criminal legal system. [62]
The Central Park jogger case was a criminal case concerning the assault and rape of Trisha Meili, a woman who was running in Central Park in Manhattan, New York, on April 19, 1989. Crime in New York City was peaking in the late 1980s and early 1990s as the crack epidemic surged. On the night Meili was attacked, dozens of teenagers had entered the park, and there were reports of muggings and physical assaults.
The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, municipal police departments in the United States.
The Black Liberation Army (BLA) was an underground Marxist-Leninist, black-nationalist militant organization that operated in the United States from 1970 to 1981. Composed of former Black Panthers (BPP) and Republic of New Afrika (RNA) members who served above ground before going underground, the organization's program was one of war against the United States government, and its stated goal was to "take up arms for the liberation and self-determination of black people in the United States." The BLA carried out a series of bombings, killings of police officers, random Caucasians and drug dealers, robberies, and prison breaks.
Carmine "The Bull" Agnello is a New York mobster of the Gambino crime family who ran a scrap metal recycling operation.
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.
The Panther 21 is a group of twenty-one Black Panther members who were arrested and accused of planned coordinated bombing and long-range rifle attacks on two police stations and an education office in New York City in 1969, who were all acquitted by a jury in May 1971, after revelations during the trial that police infiltrators played key organizing roles.
Chesa Boudin is an American lawyer who served as the 29th District Attorney of San Francisco from January 8, 2020, to July 8, 2022. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
The New York City Police Department (NYPD) originates in the Government of New York City attempts to control rising crime in early- to mid-19th-century New York City. The City's reforms created a full-time professional police force modeled upon London's Metropolitan Police, itself only formed in 1829. Established in 1845, the Municipal Police replaced the inadequate night watch system which had been in place since the 17th century, when the city was founded by the Dutch as New Amsterdam.
Throughout the history of the New York City Police Department, numerous instances of corruption, misconduct, and other allegations of such, have occurred. Over 12,000 cases resulted in lawsuit settlements totaling over $400 million during a five-year period ending in 2014. In 2019, misconduct lawsuits cost the taxpayer $68,688,423, a 76 percent increase over the previous year, including about $10 million paid out to two exonerated individuals who had been falsely convicted and imprisoned.
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.
Criminal justice reform seeks to address structural issues in criminal justice systems such as racial profiling, police brutality, overcriminalization, mass incarceration, and recidivism. Reforms can take place at any point where the criminal justice system intervenes in citizens’ lives, including lawmaking, policing, sentencing and incarceration. Criminal justice reform can also address the collateral consequences of conviction, including disenfranchisement or lack of access to housing or employment, that may restrict the rights of individuals with criminal records.
Kalief Browder was an African American youth from The Bronx, New York, who was held at the Rikers Island jail complex, without trial, between 2010 and 2013 for allegedly stealing a backpack containing valuables. During his imprisonment, Browder was kept in solitary confinement for 800 days.
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Picking quarrels and provoking trouble, also translated as picking quarrels and stirring up trouble or picking quarrels and making trouble, is a type of criminal offense in the People's Republic of China.
The New York Police Department's Strategic Response Group (SRG) is a unit of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) formed in 2015 for all counter-terrorism and the policing of political protests.
Alec Karakatsanis is an American civil rights lawyer, social justice advocate, co-founder of Equal Justice Under Law, and founder and Executive Director of Civil Rights Corps, a Washington D.C. impact litigation nonprofit. Karakatsanis' recent work has targeted the American monetary bail system. He also opposes copaganda.
The New York City Police Department (NYPD) actively monitors public activity in New York City, New York, United States. Historically, surveillance has been used by the NYPD for a range of purposes, including against crime, counter-terrorism, and also for nefarious or controversial subjects such as monitoring political demonstrations, activities, and protests, and even entire ethnic and religious groups.
Decarceration in the United States involves government policies and community campaigns aimed at reducing the number of people held in custody or custodial supervision. Decarceration, the opposite of incarceration, also entails reducing the rate of imprisonment at the federal, state and municipal level. As of 2019, the US was home to 5% of the global population but 25% of its prisoners. Until the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. possessed the world's highest incarceration rate: 655 inmates for every 100,000 people, enough inmates to equal the populations of Philadelphia or Houston. The COVID-19 pandemic has reinvigorated the discussion surrounding decarceration as the spread of the virus poses a threat to the health of those incarcerated in prisons and detention centers where the ability to properly socially distance is limited. As a result of the push for decarceration in the wake of the pandemic, as of 2022, the incarceration rate in the United States declined to 505 per 100,000, resulting in the United States no longer having the highest incarceration rate in the world, but still remaining in the top five.
George Floyd protests in New York City took place at several sites in each of the five New York City boroughs, starting on May 28, 2020, in reaction to the murder of George Floyd. Most of the protests were peaceful, while some sites experienced protester and/or police violence, including several high-profile incidents of excessive force. Looting became a parallel issue, especially in Manhattan. As a result, and amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the city was placed under curfew from June 1–7, the first curfew in the city since 1943.
On March 25, 2024, New York Police Department (NYPD) officer Jonathan Diller was shot while conducting a traffic stop in Far Rockaway, Queens. He was subsequently transported to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he died due to his injuries.
