Mass Incarceration

State Assembly Passes the Challenging Wrongful Convictions Act

Press Statements / By

Contact: Mitch Schwartz, (914) 330-1026 State Assembly Passes the Challenging Wrongful Convictions Act Major step toward giving wrongfully-convicted New Yorkers the chance to prove their innocence ALBANY–The New York State Assembly passed the Challenging Wrongful Convictions Act (S. 215 / A. 2878) yesterday, a major step toward giving wrongfully-convicted New Yorkers a chance to clear […]

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VOCAL-NY Applauds NYS Senate and Assembly for Prioritizing Housing and Overdose Prevention in Budget Proposals

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CONTACT: Mariah McGough, mariah@vocal-ny.org VOCAL-NY APPLAUDS NYS SENATE AND ASSEMBLY FOR PRIORITIZING HOUSING AND OVERDOSE PREVENTION IN BUDGET PROPOSALS After Weeks of Advocacy in Albany, State Lawmakers Heard Concerns and Addressed Them in Their One-House Budget Proposals  NEW YORK — Today, in response to the release of the Senate and Assembly One-House Budgets, VOCAL-NY released the following statement,

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VOCAL-NY Responds to Mayor Adams’ State of the City

Press Statements / By

CONTACT: Mariah McGough, mariah@vocal-ny.org  VOCAL-NY RESPONDS TO MAYOR ADAMS’ STATE OF THE CITY See VOCAL-NY’s 2023 Policy Platform for Mayor Adams and the New York City Council NEW YORK — Today, in response to Mayor Adams second annual State of the City, VOCAL-NY released the following statement, attributable to Jawanza Williams, VOCAL-NY Director of Organizing: “Today we heard little about

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2023 Roadmap to a Caring and Compassionate City: Ending Homelessness, the Drug War, the HIV/AIDS Epidemic, and Mass Incarceration in NYC

Fact Sheet / By

People living in New York City deserve to caring & compassionate local government. VOCAL-NY released the following platform of demands for the New York City Council to adopt and make a down payment toward a Caring & Compassionate New Deal for New York City during budget negotiations for the 2023/24.

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Democrat & chronicle: Most incarcerated New Yorkers now come from upstate, not NYC. What’s behind the shift?:

In the News / By

When New York changed its laws around where incarcerated people were counted, the next step was to quantify which areas sent the most people to prisons, according to VOCAL-NY’s civil rights campaign director, Nick Encalada-Malinowski. He sees the numbers of incarcerated people coming from upstate communities as a reflection of politics. As New York City

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NEW YORK STATE OF POLITICS: Lawmakers push back on Hochul’s reluctance to end qualified immunity:

In the News / By

People who have been treated unfairly by public officials without legal recourse argue more accountability for all officials will improve public safety, and Hochul’s position on the proposal doesn’t make sense. “Gov. Kathy Hochul has said that no one should be above the law and public safety is her top priority, but then yesterday said

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City & state: The quest to end legal protections for public employees in NY – and not just police:

In the News / By

Right now, the impact of the city law remains unclear due to a lack of data to analyze yet, according to VOCAL-NY’s Keli Young, the police reform group’s civil rights campaign coordinator.  However, New York’s proposal would go further than the city’s law, and even those in Colorado and New Mexico. Unlike in those instances,

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GOTHAM GAZETTE: What Wasn’t in Hochul’s 2023 State of the State Agenda:

In the News / By

“The Governor’s answer to the worst overdose crisis in New York’s history is to increase penalties for fentanyl and drug-induced homicide laws that only advance the War on Drugs, rather than the fight to save lives,” said Jawanza Williams, director of organizing for VOCAL-NY, an advocacy group. “Most egregious of all: Hochul’s complete omission of

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TIMES UNION: Cautious policies for opioid crisis miss the mark, advocates say:

In the News / By

Jasmine Budnella, the director of policy for VOCAL-NY, a drug-user advocacy group, applauded the investment in drug-checking technology and pointed to its pilot use at New York City’s two safe injection sites, also referred to as overdose prevention centers, where staff have been utilizing drug-checking technology to screen users’ samples.  Advocates are still disappointed in

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