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Community Defense and the Challenge of Community Justice

NCJ Number
184880
Journal
National Institute of Justice Journal Issue: 231 Dated: August 1996 Pages: 41-45
Author(s)
Christopher Stone
Date Published
August 1996
Length
5 pages
Annotation
The Neighborhood Defender Service (NDS) in Harlem, New York, was an experiment aimed at developing and testing new ways of organizing and deploying public defenders to solve problems of community justice yet provide high-quality representation.
Abstract
Begun in 1990 by the Vera Institute of Justice in partnership with New York City and New York State, the 5-year project operated alongside the far larger Legal Aid Society. The NDS differed from traditional public defenders in its relationship to client base, staff structure, and priorities. The NDS represented individuals accused of crimes who could not afford private lawyers and was based in the community. Instead of waiting for the court to assign the NDS to represent a client, the NDS encouraged Harlem residents to call the office any time. In contrast to the usual practice of assigning a client to a single attorney, each NDS client was represented by a team. The NDS assigned the highest priority to investigating and advocating for clients at the start of their cases, sometimes even before arrest. Further, the NDS was able to deal with the social realities of neighborhood disputes that court-based prosecutors were rarely familiar with. Although the NDS was cost-effective in that clients received significantly shorter sentences, the NDS did not significantly reduce detention decisions at the initial bail hearing. The author believes the experiences gained from the NDS can inform the development of public defenders and the community justice movement in general. 2 notes and 1 photograph