2025 Year In Review

As 2025 comes to a close, we at CWNYC have been reflecting on our first full year as a completely volunteer run organization. It has been a devastating yet galvanizing year, and through it, we have held true to our goals.

This is what we did, what we saw, and how to join us in 2026.

What we did:

  1. To foster a culture of accountability and transparency by bringing New Yorkers into courtrooms to observe public officials.

  2. To provide court support to individuals and families looking for additional eyes in the courtroom.

    • We amplified court support requests to our trained watchers throughout the year, supporting people accused of crimes and their loved ones during their time in court

  3. To inspire a base of volunteers to stay active and get involved in broader efforts to shrink the criminal legal system in New York City and State. 

    • We grew our volunteer base by 435 watchers via seven Intro to CWNYC trainings (including two in person!)

    • We hosted volunteer meetups, a teach-in at Hind’s House, and tabled at several community events 

    • We connected with comrades in immigration court watch, sharing best practices and connecting our volunteer bases

What we saw:

While we are proud of what we have accomplished, the need for court watchers is never ending. We continue to see the people who run the punishment machines that are our courts act with unreserved cruelty.

We saw prosecutors ask for almost $30MM of bail, request securing orders that would make people homeless, advocate for detaining a pregnant woman in active labor, ask for hundreds of thousands of dollars of bail on people who were clearly in immediate need of healthcare. We saw prosecutors abuse the harm + harm provision of the law, arguing in separate cases that attempting to steal five rolls of paper towels from a CVS, $3 worth of potato chips from a Hudson News or toilet paper from Duane Reade was “substantial harm to corporations.”

We saw judges set $12MM of bail. They set bail on people who will lose their beds in shelters in the dead of winter, they set bail on unhoused people for theft of food or household items, they set bail on people who were in need of urgent medical and psychiatric care. All of those people were sent to Rikers Island instead of getting the help they needed. We saw judges who clearly didn’t know the law, who ignored legal writs to override prosecutors consenting to release, who were unaware of what charges were bail eligible. They were cruel, they laughed at and yelled at and pointed at and belittled the people in front of them, they grandstanded for the press.

Our communities deserve better. We all deserve to live in a world where everyone is free. Court Watch NYC continues to believe in a better world, a world without the cruel, crushing, punishing approach to structural societal problems that has been caused by greed and capitalism. We are humbled to be a small part of the fight to get there, and hope that you will join us in 2026 if you haven’t already.

Join us in 2026:

We are hosting our next Intro to Court Watch training on Weds, January 7th, from 7:30-9pm. This is the first session of our two-part CWNYC training series, covering a brief history of mass incarceration & abolition, the NYC court system, why criminal court watching is important and how you can get involved! You can sign up at this link. After this training, you can provide court support, join our study group, our signal community and our events. You can also then sign up for the second session of our training, a tactical session which goes into detail on the logistics of how to join our arraignments watching campaign. 

Together we can work towards a more abolitionist new year. 

In Solidarity,

CWNYC

Next CWNYC Training: 1/7!

Dear Court Watch Community,

We are hosting our next virtual Intro to Court Watch training on Wednesday, January 7th, from 7:30-9pm. This is the first session of our two-part CWNYC training series, covering a brief history of mass incarceration & abolition, the NYC court system, why criminal court watching is important and how you can get involved! After this training, you can provide court support, join our study group, our signal community and our events. You can also then sign up for the second session of our training, a tactical session which goes into detail on the logistics of how to join our arraignments watching campaign. 

You can sign up at this link! If you’ve already taken the training, please consider forwarding this to a friend or two who might be interested in this work, and/or sharing our post about the training on Instagram! 

A few notes: CWNYC is focused on criminal court watching, not immigration court watching. Also, while this training is virtual, arraignments shifts and most of our volunteer opportunities are in person.

In Solidarity,

CWNYC

Join Our Fall Trainings!

Dear Court Watch Community,

This summer, our Courtwatchers have been active in criminal courts across the city, watching over 1400 arraignments. We have continued to see the bail reform rollback known as the “harm on harm” provision be weaponized to set bail on otherwise non-bail-eligible offenses, witnessed judges abusing their discretion to set bail beyond any consideration of a person’s likelihood to return to court, and seen judges constantly disregarding the law that requires them to consider whether setting bail would pose undue hardship.

New Training Dates

Join us! We are hosting two Intro to Court Watch training sessions this fall. 

On Tuesday September 16th, we are hosting our first in-person training since 2019! The training will be from 7-9:30pm at Archestratus in Greenpoint. This will be a combined Intro to CWNYC and BailWatch training session, and will cover everything you need to get involved as a court watcher. You can see more details and sign up for this in person offering at this link.

On Tuesday October 14th from 7:30-9pm, we will be hosting a session of our virtual Intro to Court Watch training. This is the first session of our two-part CWNYC training series, covering a brief history of mass incarceration & abolition, the NYC court system, why criminal court watching is important and how you can get involved! After this training, you can also then sign up for the second session of our training, a tactical session which goes into detail on the logistics of how to join our arraignments watching campaign. You can sign up at this link! 

If you’ve already taken our training, please consider forwarding this to a friend or two who might be interested in this work, and sharing our post about the trainings on Instagram and BlueSky!

Immigration Court Watching

We continue to be horrified by what is happening in immigration courts across the city and country. All of these carceral systems are connected and must be abolished. Our focus continues to be criminal courts, where the ICE dragnet begins for many. If you are interested in supporting immigration-related actions, two of many organizations doing great work in the space are Immigrant ARC and the New York Immigration Coalition!

In Solidarity,

CWNYC

Next CWNYC Training: 7/8!

Dear Court Watch Community,

Our watchers have been active in April and May, watching almost 400 hours of arraignments in our yellow shirts. We have continued to show criminal court judges and other court actors that the people before them matter to us, their community members in NYC. We have seen judges continue to relentlessly weaponize poverty, and have been deeply alarmed at the behavior of Judge Tehilah Berman.

We are also horrified about what is continuing to happen in immigration courts across the city and country. All of these carceral systems are connected and must be abolished. Our focus continues to be criminal courts, where the ICE dragnet begins for many. We are working with partners on the ground in the immigration fight to connect our volunteer communities and figure out the best way for CWNYC to support immigration court watch programs -- more to come.

We are hosting our next Intro to Court Watch training on Tuesday, July 8th, from 7:30-9pm. This is the first session of our two-part CWNYC training series, covering a brief history of mass incarceration & abolition, the NYC court system, why criminal court watching is important and how you can get involved! After this training, you can provide court support, join our study group, our signal community and our events. You can also then sign up for the second session of our training, a tactical session which goes into detail on the logistics of how to join our arraignments watching campaign. 

You can sign up at this link! If you’ve already taken the training, please consider forwarding this to a friend or two who might be interested in this work, and/or sharing our post about the training on Instagram! 

In Solidarity,

CWNYC

CALL TO ACTION: All Eyes On Court

Another man died in a holding cell waiting to be arraigned on Wednesday morning. He was arrested for allegedly holding a subway gate open.

No one should die waiting to be arraigned, for any alleged crime.

One difference from last week’s tragedy is that the man who lost his life this week had not been kept waiting for more than the legal twenty-four hours. It is clear that waiting for arraignment for any length of time is not humane or safe. Abiding by the rules of the state still leads to irreparable harm.

Public defenders have told us how valuable it is for their clients to have had court watchers present in court over the past few days. Our presence pressures prosecutors and judges to act differently.

We’re calling on the Court Watch community to flood the court with watchers. This cannot continue. We need eyes in courtrooms to show judges the community is watching. Our goal is to have a court watcher at every single shift in the month of April, especially in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

Are you a trained watcher? You'll get a follow-up email in the next few minutes to make sure you have everything you need to sign up and go to court.

Would you like to join our community of trained court watchers? If you haven’t been trained but would like to join this action, please sign up for the first session of our next virtual training on April 10 from 7:30-9pm.

Please also share our posts on Instagram and BlueSky announcing this action, and reach out to info@courtwatchnyc.org with any questions.

In Solidarity,

Court Watch NYC

Mourning an Unconscionable Tragedy

A man died in a holding cell in Brooklyn yesterday. He had been incarcerated for more than three days, waiting for an arraignment, because he allegedly stole $213 worth of goods from Home Depot – an accusation that, under the 2019 Bail Reform law, should have resulted in a ticket. He should never have been arrested, let alone held for over three days.

Court Watch NYC mourns this tragedy, as well as the tragedies of the four other people who have been killed by the actions of cops, judges and prosecutors, shielded by the NYC carceral system, in the past month. Our watchers were in arraignments on Friday to observe a moment of silence for him.

What our watchers then saw on Friday afternoon was a highly unusual series of arraignment hearings that laid bare the grotesque absurdity of this system.

In a courtroom suddenly packed with people bearing witness, the prosecutors didn’t ask for bail in a single case—no matter how “serious” the charge. Instead, they consented to release or supervised release for each person.

This shows clearly that when the system starts to feel exposed, it just lets everyone go. If these “offenses” are worthy of prosecutors requesting bail for one day and suddenly not the next, then clearly these categories are arbitrary and meaningless. The events on Friday crudely underscored the unnecessary cruelty of detention for crimes of poverty.

Throughout the afternoon yesterday, our watchers also saw multiple people arraigned who had been held for 40+ hours, including people who had been fasting for Ramadan, someone who had been denied a phone call to ask for someone to feed his dog, and someone who missed a scheduled surgery. While the amount of time they had been held was atypical, the stories of how a single arrest sets in motion events that can upend and destroy lives are devastatingly normal stories that our watchers see every single day in court.

Our thoughts are with the man who needlessly lost his life at the hands of this terrible system on Friday morning, his loved ones, and all of those who remain cruelly caged by the state. 

We are watching, we are witnessing and we will continue to share what we see.

In Solidarity,

Court Watch NYC

#BailWatch Update: 1000 Arraignments Watched!!

Court Watch NYC Community,

We’re writing to celebrate a huge milestone and announce the first training of 2025! If you haven’t yet done the Court Watch NYC and #BailWatch trainings, or you want to get friends involved, now’s the perfect time. Full details on our two-part January training are below and you can sign up for Part 1 here.

#BailWatch Update: 1,000 Arraignments Watched

Since launching our #BailWatch campaign in June, we have now officially watched over 1,000 arraignments, presided over by 23 targeted judges, across four boroughs!! We have posted several sets of observations on what we have seen (more to come), and have shared the data we collected with trusted partner organizations, who have been able to get several people released from Rikers based on information from our watchers. Judges know we are watching!

Unfortunately, we continue to see examples of the cruelty and inhumanity judges display towards the people coming through their courtrooms. We have seen judges continue to ignore the letter and spirit of bail laws, setting horrifically high bail on people with no ability to pay. We have seen $5.7M of total bail set, with a median amount of $10,000 – well above the median household bank account balance – potentially subjecting almost 200 people to the inhumane conditions at Rikers Island. We have seen judges laugh at people, yell at people, and be more punitive because they don’t like the way people are looking at them. We have seen them grandstand for the press, making especially cruel comments regarding people's lives in front of courtrooms full of reporters.

We’ve seen the difference our presence makes in the courtroom. Let’s keep up this momentum and get more eyes on these judges.

Next CWNYC Training: Intro to CWNYC (Part 1), January 8

We are hosting another virtual Intro to CWNYC training on January 8 from 7:30-9pm! This is the first of our two-part training series. Part 1 will cover a brief history of mass incarceration & abolition, the NYC court system, why court watching is important and how you can get involved. 

After this session, you can provide court support, join our study group, our signal community and our events, and sign up for Part 2 — our tactical #BailWatch training, which goes into detail on the logistics of how to join our arraignments watching campaign. 

You can sign up for Intro to CWNYC (Part 1) here, and please share the link and/or our Instagram post with your networks!

In Solidarity,

Court Watch NYC

Take Action - Join CWNYC and #BailWatch

Since our relaunch last February, CWNYC has been building a community of New Yorkers committed to tearing down the carceral state. Through our #BailWatch campaign, we have watched hundreds of arraignments in our yellow shirts, signaling to judges that New Yorkers are looking out for their neighbors, will not permit their rights to be trampled, and that their cruelty will be exposed. We have shaped specific bail advocacy, and helped get people released from Rikers.

We know people are looking for community now more than ever, so we are hosting an urgent virtual Intro to CWNYC Training next Wednesday November 13th, from 7:30-9PM. 

Sign up here, and please share with your networks - our Instagram announcement about our work and the latest training is here.

In solidarity,

Court Watch NYC

#BailWatch Update + Ways to Connect with CWNYC

CWNYC’s BailWatch campaign has continued this summer! Our courtwatchers have witnessed hundreds more arraignments in our yellow shirts, signaling to judges that New Yorkers are looking out for their neighbors and will not permit their rights to be trampled in the dark.

Some things our watchers witnessed this summer were:

  • Judge Fong-Frederick in Brooklyn setting $55,000 of total bail one evening, on half of cases seen; including on a shoplifting case where the accused person was suffering from mental health and addiction problems.

  • Judge McDonnell in Manhattan setting bail on two thirds of cases seen one day, including missing the law to claim that someone caused “harm to an identifiable person or property” by stealing coffee and a soda from Target.

  • Judge Robinson in Brooklyn guaranteeing pretrial incarceration by setting bail at $10,000 each for two people: one who could only afford $3,000, and another who had no financial resources to pay.

If you would like to join us in watching these judges and others, the first step is to attend our next virtual Intro to CWNYC Training next Monday, September 30th, from 7:30-9PM. Sign up here!

We will also be tabling at the Abolition Block Party this Sunday 9/29 in Brower Park from 2-6PM if you’d like to come by and say hi in person!

In solidarity,

Court Watch NYC

#Bailwatch Update + New Training Date!

CWNYC’s BailWatch campaign has been live for almost one month! Our courtwatchers have seen over 150 arraignments in our yellow shirts, signaling to judges that New Yorkers are looking out for their neighbors and will not permit their rights to be trampled in the dark.

Some things our watchers witnessed were:

  • Judge Ryan in Manhattan setting bail on almost half of cases seen one evening, including on a person accused of shoplifting, a person with congestive heart failure, and several people who were recommended for release by the Criminal Justice Agency

  • Judge Lewis in The Bronx setting bail on 70% of cases seen one afternoon, including on a 16 year old and an accused person who is indigent

  • Judge Holderness in Brooklyn guaranteeing pretrial incarceration by setting tens of thousands of dollars in bail on two people experiencing homelessness

If you would like to join us in watching these judges, the first step is to attend our next virtual Intro to CWNYC Training, which is on Thursday July 11 from 7:30-9PM. Sign up here!

In solidarity,

CWNYC

BailWatch: CWNYC is back in arraignments!

Last month, CWNYC began hearing reports of a rise in specific judges not applying the laws governing bail fairly, setting unreasonable bail and sending people to languish at Rikers Island on bail they cannot afford.

Today, the CWNYC arraignments watching program is relaunching as #BailWatch, focused on judges who are the worst offenders. Court Watchers are going back en masse into arraignments. The presence of Court Watch NYC volunteer observers will signal to judges that New Yorkers are looking out for their neighbors and will not permit their rights to be trampled in the dark. Volunteers will also collect valuable data on specific judges, enabling our partners to better advise trial attorneys on release strategies, and better track trends in bail setting for targeted advocacy.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram to keep track of what we are seeing in court. If you would like to join us in watching these judges, please sign up for our virtual Intro to CWNYC training on 7/11 at 7:30PM.

In solidarity,

Court Watch NYC

CWNYC Joins Campaign For Judicial Accountability

Today, Court Watch NYC is signing onto the Center for Community Alternatives’ court judge accountability campaign, The Court New York Deserves. Our court watchers have seen cruel and excessive trial court judges in NYC since our launch, and it is past time they face scrutiny before re-appointment.

Every day, New York's judges make critical decisions about freedom, incarceration, and much more. But despite this power, they are often rubber-stamped to new terms without evaluation or scrutiny, allowing unfit and cruel judges to serve for decades.

We demand an end to this practice. Judges who have shown themselves to be excessive and cruel should not be continuously reappointed. It should go without saying: Our elected officials must meaningfully evaluate judges’ records before giving them additional terms. Read more about the campaign in The New York Times, on our website, TheCourtNYDeserves.com, and in the campaign 2-pager.

As a first step in this fight, we are demanding that Governor Hochul replace one of the worst judges in the state. Justice Vincent Del Giudice, who has been a judge in Brooklyn since 2002 and whose term has now expired, is by far the most carceral judge in New York. Appeals courts have repeatedly overturned Del Giudice’s decisions, reducing his sentences by more than 500 years. Read much more about Del Giudice's record here.

Join us in demanding that judges who subject New Yorkers to unjust sentences not be reappointed to the bench. Learn more and take action:

  • Join us on Zoom next Monday, May 6, at 6 p.m. to learn more about the power of state court judges, the need for evaluation and scrutiny, and Del Giudice’s record. Hear from directly impacted New Yorkers, attorneys familiar with Del Giudice, and State Senators. RSVP here.

  • Join us for a press conference and rally outside Brooklyn Supreme Court in Downtown Brooklyn next Thursday, May 9, at 11 a.m. We’ll be showing out to demand scrutiny of judges and no new terms for unfit judges—starting with Justice Del Giudice. RSVP here.

  • Email Governor Hochul today to demand that she immediately nominate a replacement for Justice Del Giudice.

Visit TheCourtNYDeserves.com to read more and to sign up for updates. And if you'd like to amplify the campaign on social media, see our thread on Twitter/X and this social media kit.

In solidarity,

Court Watch NYC

New CWNYC Volunteer Training: Thurs May 16th

We are very excited to host our first volunteer training of 2024 on Thursday May 16th from 7:30-9PM!

This training is an introduction to court watching. You'll learn about our values, how we operate, and how you can help us support anti-carceral campaigns throughout New York City. If you have already been to a training, you are welcome to attend as a refresher!

Please sign up here if you'd like to attend, and please tell your friends!

In solidarity,

Court Watch NYC

Breaking News: Court Watch NYC relaunches as a volunteer-run project!

Dear Court Watch NYC Community,

 

Court Watch NYC is officially relaunching as an entirely volunteer-run project! Volunteers have always been at the core of this initiative, and now we’re guiding CWNYC into the future as an anti-carceral project connecting court watchers with campaigns, individuals, and organizations that most need our support.


We would like to thank Envision Freedom Fund, as well as VOCAL-NY and Five Boro Defenders, for all of their work establishing CWNYC, training nearly 1,000 volunteers, and running the program for the past five years.


Our volunteer organizing committee has mapped out a plan for CWNYC that we’re thrilled to share with you today! As part of this transition, we have had an opportunity to reflect on how we can be most useful to the abolitionist struggle in NYC and beyond. We are excited about our three new areas of focus outlined below, which will allow us to wield the power of court watching as an abolitionist tactic where we can be most useful and effective: 

  • Court support for individuals

    • Accepting & promoting requests to support individuals at court dates by “packing” courtrooms with volunteers (via this form)

  • Partnership campaigns

    • Training volunteers to participate in specific district attorney or judge watching campaigns, such as our current project with Scrutinize (more information to come)

    • Other partnerships to come - we are open to all ideas!

  • Community building 

    • Maintaining our abolitionist study group

    • Joining rallies in support of anti-carceral goals in NYC

    • Hosting arraignments training and court watching for student groups

    • Training interested members of the public when possible

While we will no longer be formally collecting data from arraignments as we’ve done historically, we encourage trained watchers to continue showing up in arraignments in our yellow shirts as we know our presence can help shift power in the courtroom. 

 

Please visit our refreshed website for more information or email us at info@courtwatchnyc.org with any questions. (Please add our email address to your contact list so you don't miss any future emails as we make this transition in operations.)

 

In solidarity,

CWNYC Volunteer Organizing Committee