Five Borough Defense

Five Borough Defense is a meeting place for public defenders in New York City, and for anyone interested in public defense in New York City. “In New York City” and “public defense” are intended to be interpreted broadly. Happier people in engaged communities is the goal. Those ends cannot be met by even inconceivably ambitious new approaches to courtroom advocacy alone. So the topics on the site stray through trends in various outlets for social engineering. Politics, policing, and education, for example. In so doing, this organization aims to add to the marketplace of ideas, to borrow well-worn law school phraseology. Criticism is not meant to condemn an individual, but to highlight the need for institutional change. Reporting on the actions of a few selfish police, for instance, must not obscure the selfless acts of the tens of thousands of dedicated officers who make the world a better place despite the odds. The same is true of politicians and educators. If you feel something on the site portrays you unfairly, please comment. Note that the contributors are all writing on their own behalf. There is no fiveboroughdefese, Inc. We cannot control what contributors think and say, nor would we want to.