State of Injustice: How New York State Turns its Back on the Right to Counsel for the Poor

The right to an attorney is guaranteed under the United States Constitution. In 1963, the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Gideon v. Wainwright that everyone accused of a crime is entitled to a competent lawyer even if he or she cannot afford one.

But more than 50 years later, poor and often innocent New Yorkers are forced through the criminal justice system and sent to jail undefended and alone.

State of Injustice: How New York State Turns its Back on the Right to Counsel for the Poor focuses on five counties: Onondaga (Syracuse), Suffolk, Ontario, Schuyler and Washington. In each of these counties, people too poor to afford private attorneys too often appear before judges without a lawyer by their side, or are forced to navigate the criminal justice system with a revolving cast of overworked attorneys unfamiliar with their cases. Public defense attorneys who strive to protect the rights of their clients are too often thwarted by caseloads up to five times the recommended maximums and a lack of resources for investigations, experts and even workplace basics like computers.

More from the NYCLU.

Firearms Reported Lost and Stolen

From the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

The report gives an overview, for calendar year 2012, of the lost and stolen gun file entries in the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), and of the lost and stolen firearm reports submitted by Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) to ATF. This report will be updated and published annually.
Lost and stolen firearms pose a substantial threat to public safety and to law enforcement. Those that steal firearms commit violent crimes with stolen guns, transfer stolen firearms to others who commit crimes, and create an unregulated secondary market for firearms, including a market for those who are prohibited by law from possessing a gun. Moreover, thieves and illicit traffickers often obliterate the serial numbers of stolen firearms so that if a stolen firearm is later recovered by law enforcement, it cannot identified as stolen or traced to the original purchaser. Lost firearms pose a similar threat. Like stolen firearms, they are most often bought and sold in an unregulated secondary market where law enforcement is unable to trace transactions. As a result, when a lost or stolen gun is later recovered from a crime scene, tracing (which only identifies the original manufacturer, the licensed dealer who sold the firearm, and the original purchaser) will not provide a direct link to the perpetrator of the crime

Prison Happy

From the American Consumers Newsletter

Americans are singularly obsessed with imprisonment. No other country puts as many people behind bars. The number of people in custody in the nation's local jails and state or federal prisons more than tripled between 1985 and 2010, growing from 744,208 to 2.3 million, according to the Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics. The rate of imprisonment more than doubled during the time period, climbing from 313 to 731 incarcerations per 100,000 population.

Characteristics of Suspected Human Trafficking Incidents, 2008-2010

Bureau of Justice Statistics

Describes the characteristics of human trafficking investigations, suspects, and victims in cases opened by federally funded task forces between January 2008 and June 2010. This report provides information about investigations, persons involved in suspected and confirmed incidents of human trafficking, and case outcomes. Data are from the Human Trafficking Reporting System (HTRS), which was created in response to a congressional mandate in the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 for biennial reporting on the scope and characteristics of human trafficking. HTRS is currently the only system that captures information on human trafficking investigations conducted by state and local law enforcement agencies in the United States. The report also describes HTRS data collection procedures and data quality issues.

Census Confidentiality

When you fill out and mail back your 2010 Census form, your responses are safe and confidential.

Every Census Bureau employee must pass a background check before being hired and must swear under oath to protect the confidentiality of census responses. This is an oath for life. Any employee who reveals any personal census information is subject to severe penalties -- including a fine of up to $250,000, imprisonment of up to five years, or both.

By law, no other government agency, law enforcement agency, national security agency, court, or anyone else can access your responses -- not anyone for any reason.

No law overrides the confidentiality law that protects personal information collected by the Census Bureau, or can force the Census Bureau to share census responses.

The Justice Department recently confirmed that no provision of the Patriot Act overrides the confidentiality law that protects census responses.

The Department of Justice Letter is Below (click on it to make larger)

What Americans Think

There is an interesting book from New Strategist Publications called American Attitudes: What Americans Think about the Issues That Shape Their Lives, 5th ed. Price: $89.95. New Strategist also puts out the American Consumers newsletter. Here are some things Americans believe, based on the General Social Survey; the most recent results are from the 2006 survey.

1. We are tough. Among the world's nations, the United States ranks number one in prisoners per capita, yet
68 percent of Americans still think the courts are not harsh enough on criminals.
72 percent agree that it is sometimes necessary to discipline a child with a "good, hard spanking."


2. We want it both ways. Fully 63 percent of the public wants to cut the government's purse strings. Only 13 percent oppose spending cuts. But when asked what we should cut, our enthusiasm wanes. These are the percentages of Americans who want to cut spending by specific program area:
education: 4
health care: 6
retirement benefits: 7
law enforcement: 8
environment: 13
natural disasters: 14
military: 26
arts: 30


3. We are careless. Americans are forever thumping their chests with pride, and the one thing we boast about the most is our freedom. Yet the majority of Americans are willing to give up that freedom without much of a fight:
56 percent think the government probably or definitely should have the right to jail people without a trial.

4. We are religious. Among the world's developed countries, the United States stands alone in its religiosity.
59 percent pray at least once a day.
Only 50 percent believe in evolution.

5. We are hard working. In fact, we are workaholics. This may explain why American workers have so little vacation time compared to their European counterparts and why we do not demand more time off:
70 percent would continue to work even if rich.

6. We are diverse. The Census Bureau continually tells us how diverse we are, but does it matter much anymore?
74 percent of blacks have trusted white friends.
52 percent of whites have trusted black friends.
54 percent of blacks have white family members.
20 percent of whites have black family members.

7. We are alienated. Americans do not have warm and fuzzy feelings toward public officials or their fellow citizens:
Only 35 percent say politicians are interested in the problems of the average person.
Only 32 percent believe most people can be trusted.
80 percent believe others will take advantage of you if you are not careful.

8. We are uptight. Americans have a well-deserved reputation for being prudish about sex:
Only 46 percent believe premarital sex is not wrong at all.
Only 32 percent believe homosexuality is not wrong at all.
But we are also practical:
89 percent support sex education in the public schools.
54 percent think teens should have access to birth control.

9. We like to stay put. Americans live in the third largest country in the world, but they restrict themselves to a very small portion of it.
38 percent still live in the same city they lived in at age 16.
62 percent live in the same state they lived in at age 16.

10. We still dream. Perhaps the single defining characteristic of Americans in both good times and bad is our steadfast belief in the American Dream:
69 percent say hard work, rather than luck or connections, determines success.
70 percent say the United States gives people like them the opportunity to improve their standard of living.

Commission of Investigation of the State of New York

With a broad mandate to investigate "any matter concerning the public peace, public safety and public justice," the State Commission of Investigation undertakes investigations of corruption, fraud and mismanagement in New York State and local government. The Commission is also charged with conducting investigations into organized crime and labor racketeering and their relation to the enforcement of State law.

Established by statute in 1958, the Commission recently issued its 50th Anniversary 2007 Annual Report. The report highlights investigations conducted during 2007.

Annual Reports and other reports of the Commission are available online from the Commission.