Underfunded Public Defender’s Offices Cost Criminal Defendants

Newark, NJ- All Americans accused of a crime are entitled to defense counsel regardless of their crime or their income level. A defense attorney is supposed to be provided to indigent and low-income offenders by public defender’s offices in each jurisdiction, but there is a growing underfunding problem in these...

Newark, NJ- The Drug Policy Alliance, a nonprofit that advocates for criminal justice reform, estimates that 38.5 percent of people in New Jersey’s jails cannot afford to pay bail and remain incarcerated until they are assigned a court date. Many of these individuals are being held for minor crimes, and...

Newark, NJ- A newly popular tactic to get into immigration court or delay removal is to apply for asylum and withdraw the application when the applicant appears in immigration court. A strategic claim of asylum may delay deportation, but there are risks to filing a frivolous asylum claim. That is...

Elizabeth, NJ- The Amazon Echo is a voice-activated virtual assistant aimed at helping people with their daily tasks, but law enforcement in Benton, Arkansas thinks data collected on one man’s Echo could solve a murder case. In addition to garnering national attention, the case has ignited the debate about privacy...

Elizabeth, NJ- Public employees are held to a higher standard than employees of private companies. When these employees act inappropriately or break a law while on the job, they face official misconduct charges. Sometimes there is confusion about who is considered a public employee. In a recent New Jersey Supreme...