Civil Rights

When you're interacting with law enforcement in New York, police might abuse their power and exceed their limits of authority. You may feel like your rights have been deprived, which is known as police misconduct. It's important to understand when police officers...

Recently, an incident took place in New York when two residents became hostages after a home invasion. One victim escaped this incident and went to the police. Not wanting to have their officers in the middle of a deadly situation, the NYPD chose to deploy a robotic...

People in New York should know that the way courts view evidence is changing. It used to be that eyewitness testimony was a great way for prosecutors to secure a conviction. Having someone who saw a crime occur identify the suspect was one of the best ways to convince...

Thousands of people in New York and around the country are sent to prison each year for crimes they didn't commit. A worryingly large number of these cases involve police officers who falsify or tamper with evidence or pressure innocent suspects into confessing during...

It's been a year since the Right to Know Act took effect in New York City. It was passed by the city council largely to deal with the New York Police Department's controversial "stop-and-frisk" practice. Many people asserted that Latinos and African Americans were...

It's been just over five years since the death of Eric Garner as he was being arrested for selling loose cigarettes in Staten Island. This month, the New York Police Department (NYPD) fired the officer who placed him in a chokehold as he and fellow NYPD officers held...

With all of the talk of impending raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are making sure that people who may be the targets of these raids know their rights if ICE agents show up at their door....

The mayor of Pomona, N.Y. along with the Village and the Village Trustees have been sued in a Federal Civil Rights lawsuit filed in White Plains.  The suit alleges that the defendants violated the civil rights of the plaintiff, former Pomona Village clerk Lisa...

Proposed rule changes would provide greater rights to students in New York or elsewhere who are accused of sexual assault. During the Obama administration, schools were encouraged to use a preponderance of evidence standard in such cases. This means that a person...

Wrongful convictions in New York are sometimes overturned by the introduction of new DNA evidence not previously available. Anywhere between 3 and 5 percent of serious crimes like murder results in exoneration when new evidence comes to the light. Lesser crimes like...