NYCLA Presents Public Forum – The Financial Consequences of Criminal Convictions: New Fees and Fines in New York’s Criminal Justice System on May 15

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Anita Aboulafia 212-267-6646, ext. 225, aaboulafia@nycla.org

 

NYCLA Presents Public Forum – The Financial Consequences of Criminal Convictions:

New Fees and Fines in New York’s Criminal Justice System on May 15

 

MAY5, 2008 – NEW YORK, NY- The New York County Lawyers’ Association (NYCLA) is presenting a free public forum, The Financial Consequences of Criminal Convictions: New Fees and Fines in New York’s Criminal Justice System, on Thursday, May 15 at the NYCLA Home of Law, 14 Vesey Street, beginning at 6:00 PM. Forum panelists will debate the new legal financial obligations, which are the vast array of fines, fees, costs, penalties, surcharges and assessments imposed by local and state governments, as well as the federal government against people convicted of criminal offenses. There will be a discussion of the consequences of these financial obligations for individuals, their significance to the courts and society, and the practical opportunities for their possible reform.

 

Forum speakers are: Sarah B. From, Director of Public Policy and Communications, Women’s Prison Association; Hon. Hakim Jeffries, New York State Assemblyman, 57th District, Brooklyn; Glenn Martin, Associate Vice President of Policy and Advocacy, The Fortune Society; Alan Rosenthal, Co-Director of Justice Strategies, Center for Community Alternatives; and Michael Yavinsky, Chief Court Attorney, Criminal Court of the City of New York and Co-Chair, NYCLA Criminal Justice Section. The moderator will be David Udell, Director of the Justice Program, Brennan Center for Justice.

 

The NYCLA Justice Center, Criminal Justice Section and Civil Rights and Liberties Committee are sponsoring this event.

 

The forum is one of several events taking place at NYCLA during its Centennial year celebration, which commenced in April 2007 and ends in December 2008. NYCLA (www.nycla.org) was founded in April 1908 as the first major bar association in the country that admitted members without regard to race, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual identity. Since its inception, it has pioneered some of the most far-reaching and tangible reforms in American jurisprudence and has continuously played an active role in legal developments and public policy.

 

# # #