NYCLU: Lawsuit Filed To Further Expose Racial Disparities In NY Criminal Legal System

Photos: YouTube Screenshots NEW YORK– Thursday, on behalf of Scrutinize, the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Harvard Law School Cyberlaw Clinic submitted Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests to the New York State Office of Court Administration (OCA), the Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) and the New York City Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice (MOCJ) to obtain judicial pretrial detention and sentencing data that has been previously unavailable to the public. The requests span arraignment and disposition data from 2008 to 2024, including information on pretrial detention orders, the nature and lengths of sentences, and the judges making these decisions. “We are hopeful that the Office of Court Administration, under the stewardship of Chief Judge Rowan Wilson and Chief Administrative Judge Joseph Zayas, will uphold its commitment to a transparent judiciary by releasing the requested data promptly,” said Oded Oren, Founder & Executive Director at Scrutinize. “The requested data will shed light on the judicial practices that have contributed to racial disparities in New York’s criminal legal system. This information will offer actionable insights for correcting these inequities.” While OCA and DCJS previously shared subsets of the requested data with academic institutions, they have not made the...