Ailsa Chang

Public defenders in the Bronx said more than 40 percent of the marijuana arrests they investigated in their borough between May and October 2011 show violations of constitutional rights and problems with evidence.  Many of these unlawful arrests, defense lawyers said, were made after an internal NYPD order was issued directing all officers to follow the law when making marijuana arrests.

A former Yonkers Councilwoman and a former head of the Yonkers Republican Party were convicted on bribery charges Thursday when they failed to convince jurors that gifts and money they exchanged were motivated by romance and not a scheme to buy votes.

A federal class action was filed against New York City and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly on Wednesday for what plaintiffs allege are suspicionless stops within private residential buildings.

The first substantial hearing in the suit filed by a housekeeper last year against the disgraced former IMF chief is set for Wednesday — when defense lawyers will ask a Bronx County ...

Former Rutgers student Dharun Ravi has launched a high profile media campaign this week following a conviction on 15 counts of privacy invasion, evidence tampering and bias intimidation. Ravi never testified at his own trial, and legal experts say making his case before the public now could be a savvy, but risky way to influence the sentencing judge.

The family of an unarmed man who was fatally shot in Inwood by a plainclothes police officer last year is demanding a federal investigation into the death after a Manhattan grand jury declined last Friday to bring charges against Detective James Connelly after he killed John Collado.

As the federal government joins the investigation into the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin at the hands of a volunteer patrolman in Florida, the incident brings to light the New York City’s love-hate relationship with its own neighborhood watch groups and raises questions about the authority of self-appointed crime fighters.

Legal experts say the bias crime conviction of a former Rutgers University student who used a webcam to spy on his gay roommate's sexual encounter with another man has changed the landscape of hate crimes prosecution. 

The contractor hired by the city to oversee the scandal-tainted CityTime payroll project agreed Wednesday to pay more than half a billion dollars in restitution and penalties in an agreement that allows it to escape criminal prosecution.

A coalition of interfaith leaders joined the chorus of voices calling for an investigation into what they say is racial and religious profiling by the New York City police department. The protest comes just as a recent Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday shows a majority of New Yorkers believe the NYPD’s surveillance program has been effective in fighting terrorism and is treating Muslims fairly. 

New York City school principals say they are not surprised by the new data released by the federal Department of Education showing black and Hispanic public school students in the city have been disciplined more severely than other students.

See what criminal justice reporter Ailsa Chang has on her reading list this morning.

See what criminal justice reporter Ailsa Chang has on her reading list this morning.

• The NYPD's surveillance of Muslims in New Jersey has undermined efforts by the FBI to build relationships there since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to the head of the agency’s Newark division quoted ...

A high-ranking police union boss trying to deflect scrutiny from officers caught up in the ticket fixing scandal in the Bronx is compiling what he says is evidence that shows commanding officers throughout the five boroughs condoned the practice for politicians and celebrities and other VIP offenders.

See what criminal justice reporter Ailsa Chang has on her reading list this morning.

Five people were charged in court papers unsealed in federal court in New York, and authorities revealed that a sixth person, Hector Xavier Monsegur of New York, has pleaded guilty.

See what criminal justice reporter Ailsa Chang has on her reading list this morning.

See what criminal justice reporter Ailsa Chang has on her reading list this morning:

A coalition of City Council members and advocates led by Councilman Jumaane Williams of Brooklyn introduced Wednesday a package of police reform bills the group says will bring greater accountability to the NYPD.

Calls are mounting for a federal investigation of the NYPD's secret surveillance of mosques and Muslim-owned businesses in Newark. New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez and Representativ...