Criminal Justice Advocacy Clinic

DVJSA

Clinic students represent individuals seeking resentencing under the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act (DVSJA). This 2019 law allows survivors of domestic violence to seek a reduced sentence if the abuse they suffered was a significant contributing factor to the crime for which they are convicted.  Student attorneys work closely with their clients to develop evidence and draft resentencing applications, prepare for DVSJA hearings, and litigate appeals from denials of resentencing. Where other relief is not possible, students have also helped clients submit petitions for executive clemency to the governor.

With aid from an initial two-year grant from the American College of Trial Lawyers Foundation, the clinic has seen early successes in its DVSJA cases. The clinic has represented two of the small number of people who have been resentenced under the DVSJA. In the clinic’s first DVSJA case, People v. S.M., the client, who had already served her full term of incarceration, was seeking to reduce her period of post-release supervision, something that might not have been encompassed by an unduly narrow reading of the statute. The court’s decision, which adopts the clinic’s reasoning for a broader interpretation of the DVSJA, offers a powerful analysis of the burdens of post-release supervision and the ways in which it can mimic the coercion of abusive relationships. The decision recognizes the importance to domestic violence survivors in being free not only from unduly harsh periods of incarceration, but also from lengthy—and sometimes lifetime—periods of supervision, with all the attendant challenges and risks for incarceration. The decision has been cited by the appellate courts multiple times in analyzing the parameters of the DVSJA. In another case, People v. K.B., the court granted resentencing to a client who had served six years of a ten-year sentence for manslaughter. Despite opposition from the prosecution to reliance on family’s and friends’ corroboration of abuse and despite claims that the abuse was not substantial, the court recognized the role of domestic violence in the client’s actions against her abuser and granted resentencing. The client was released from prison shortly after the court’s decision and has been reunited with her young daughter.

Parole Reform

In addition to our work on the DVSJA, the clinic has launched a parole advocacy and reform project with significant assistance from the Tow Foundation. Students work with clients who are appearing before the Board of Parole and who are appealing a denial of parole. Student attorneys meet with their clients to prepare for their parole interviews and work together to compile a packet of materials in support of parole release. Where clients have been denied parole, students draft administrative appeals, as well as appeals that are filed with the Supreme Court and the Appellate Division. One student recently argued her client’s appeal before a Justice of the Erie County Supreme Court.

The clinic has helped two clients obtain release on parole. In one instance, the clinic worked with a client serving an indeterminate life sentence for murder. This client was released on parole at an early parole hearing granted for significant programmatic achievement while in prison. Such release at this first, early hearing is almost unheard of given the client’s conviction. In another case, the clinic helped a client win her administrative parole appeal after being denied parole. This win resulted in a new parole hearing after which the client was granted release. This client, who was 70 years old, had been incarcerated for almost three decades.

Policy Advocacy

Students also advocate for changes in the law to make the parole process more meaningful and just. The clinic is a part of the People’s Campaign for Parole Justice Steering Committee. As part of a statewide advocacy coalition, the clinic has met with local representatives to urge passage of two parole reform bills: Fair & Timely Parole and Elder Parole.

The clinic has also held public events to promote awareness about parole justice. In December 2023, clinic students organized a well-attended community screening of The New Yorker short film, The Interview, which details formerly incarcerated people’s experiences with parole in New York State. The screening was followed by a panel discussion that included one of the featured interviewees, Jose Saldana; our parole reform consultant, Jerome Wright; a student attorney; and the father of one of our parole clients. Clinic students introduced the film and moderated the panel discussion and audience questions.

Clinic students have also worked on an advocacy campaign to share the human stories behind parole reform. This project focuses on stories of people who have been released on parole and are successful members of their communities, as well as on people who are currently incarcerated and whose profiles match those on the outside, but for their incarceration status.

Clinic advocacy will also focus on proposed reforms to increase opportunities for second-look review of sentences and to eliminate New York’s use of mandatory minimum sentencing. All these projects share the goal of broadening use of mechanisms for decarceration, for taking another look at lengthy prison sentences, and for reuniting incarcerated community members with their families.

Past Projects

Past projects have included work on a federal lawsuit involving the Bureau of Prison’s response to COVID-19 and its treatment of medically vulnerable incarcerated individuals. Working with students from legal clinics at Quinnipiac University School of Law and Yale Law School, CJAC students monitored conditions at Danbury Federal Correctional Institution. You can read more about the case here.

In addition, CJAC student attorneys have worked with the Rochester Police Accountability Board and with the Buffalo Police Advisory Board on research and policy projects.