ROCHESTER, NEW YORK CRIMINAL DEFENSE RESOURCES

• Monroe County Jail Information - Inmate roster and census (updated daily Monday through Friday) and phone numbers for administration, visiting appointments and inmate information for the Monroe County Jail and Monroe Correctional Facility.
• Monroe County Jail Property - The Monroe County Jail has specific policies for clothes and other items that may be dropped off for inmates by family or friends.
• Court Dockets - All daily court appearances at the Monroe County Hall of Justice are available on the Seventh Judicial District's website. Courtroom assignments are located on the first page of the docket.
• Criminal Jury Instructions: The New York State Criminal Jury Instructions are very helpful in understanding the specific NY State criminal statutes and instructions that a judge would read to a jury right before deliberations. These are the rules the jury must follow on how to consider the evidence in the case and how to lay out the elements of each crime charged. If you are charged with a particular crime, these instructions will give you the specific set of things (the elements) that a district attorney would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt in your case.
• Crime Time Online - Crime Time is a website that will calculate permissible sentencing options for a particular crime in New York State, taking into account the conviction and the defendant's age and criminal history.
• Your Criminal History ("Rap sheet") - To request an official version of your own criminal history, or Personal Record Review, you can contact the New York Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS).
• New York State Sex Offender Registry - The Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) provides a registry of level 2 and level 3 sex offenders living in New York State. This registry also shows multiple photos, and lists multiple names and home/work addresses of offenders. You can search by last name, zip code, or county.
• Appellate Division Fourth Department - The Appellate Division Fourth Department is located in Rochester and hears appeals of cases from County and Supreme Court in Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, and other surrounding areas. Oral arguments are available as a live streaming option or are viewable in the archive. Written decisions from the Court are regularly posted and always available.
• Trying to find an inmate? Use this helpful New York State Department of Correctional Services Inmate Lookup or call (518) 457-5000.
• New York State Correctional Facility addresses
• The Center for Community Alternatives (CCA) is a leader in the field of community-based alternatives to incarceration. CCA serves people in trouble: youth at risk; families in crisis; people struggling to address drug and alcohol problems and HIV and AIDS; and people who have been involved in the criminal justice system who are seeking community reintegration and productive, law-abiding lives.
• Safer Monroe Area Reentry Team (SMART) is a collaboration of Monroe County, NY, organizations dedicated to improving the prospects of men and women reentering society from prisons and jails. SMART does not provide direct services, but is a source of information, resources, and guidelines to assist and expand reentry services. 
• Peaceprints™ of WNY is a non-profit organization that works with individuals in prison and assists former offenders transitioning back to the community.  They offer the opportunity for men and women to grow and to become productive members of the community through prison support groups, reentry housing and support, community outreach, and family support throughout Western New York. They have seen a drastic reduction in recidivism of their clients as opposed to those released without support.
• Lawyer Referrals - If you need an attorney for a family court matter or a case outside their practice areas, Nobles & DeCarolis are always willing to provide referrals to lawyers they trust. You can also use the Monroe County Bar Association’s Lawyer Referral & Information Service.
• From divorce and child-custody issues to disagreements with schools, the police, or businesses, the Center for Dispute Settlement (CDS) can often help you reach a fair resolution without having to involve the court system.
• If you have been ordered by the court to get a chemical dependency evaluation, you can go to the New York State Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) website to search the provider directory. 
• New York State Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) Treatment & Support - Alcoholism is a disease that responds to treatment. As there are many different types of people, there are many different types of support groups and programs. Find what works best for you. This site can help you locate treatment programs and support groups in our area as well as nationwide.
• NYS DMV - If you’ve been charged with any type of traffic violation, you will need a driver’s abstract from the DMV. You can order it online and it will take two weeks to arrive by mail. If you need it immediately, we can print it for you for a small fee. 
• Glossary of legal terms – For brief explanations of most legal terms, as well as a version translated into Spanish.
• Statement of Client’s Rights – Know what you should expect from any lawyer you hire – courtesy, confidentiality, competency and communication are just a few of your rights. 
• Statement of Client’s Responsibilities - Reciprocal trust, courtesy, and respect are the hallmarks of the attorney-client relationship. Within that relationship, the client looks to the attorney for expertise, education, sound judgment, protection, advocacy, and representation. These expectations can be achieved only if the client fulfills the following responsibilities.
• City of Rochester’s Homepage - You'll find information about city government, services and projects, free event listings, recreational resources, business opportunities, home and neighborhood improvement programs, and city "problem solvers" to contact with your questions.

Criminal Law Research & Theory

Below you will find a collection of links to more in-depth information about criminal law, including the latest news, law review articles, statistics, and interesting theory papers.  Also highlighted are organizations that are addressing criminal law in innovative and notable ways.

• New York State Law Index - This site contains the NYS Penal Law (criminal law), NY State Criminal Procedure Law (the rules and processes of a criminal prosecution) NY State Vehicle & Traffic Law, and Alcoholic Beverage Control Law.
• University of Buffalo Criminal Law Center Resources - This includes criminal law materials from the United States and throughout the world, including, among other things, criminal codes, criminal procedure codes, and enforcement codes.
• Bureau of Justice Statistics – Look up statistics on drugs, firearms and crime, homicide trends, prevalence of imprisonment in the US, reentry trends, recidivism, as well as many other statistics related to criminal justice.
• The Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics brings together data from more than 100 sources about many aspects of criminal justice in the United States. This data is displayed in over 600 tables. The site is updated regularly as new statistics become available. The Sourcebook is supported by the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. 
• Steven D. Levitt’s Criminal Law Papers - Cutting-edge theories on criminal law cause and effect. Steven D. Levitt is the William B. Ogden Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, where he also directs the Becker Center on Chicago Price Theory. In 2004, he was awarded the John Bates Clark Medal, which recognizes the most influential economist in America under the age of 40.  He co-authored the books Freakonomics, SuperFreakonomics and is the co-author of the popular Freakonomics Blog.
• The Innocence Project was established in 1992 at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law by civil rights attorneys Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld and is dedicated to exonerating the innocent through post-conviction DNA testing. Since its inception, more than 190 people in the United States have been exonerated, including 14 who were at one time sentenced to death. In many of these DNA exonerations, the Innocence Project either was the attorney of record or consulted with the defendant's attorneys. This unique combination of science, law, and social justice has created a cohesive and powerful program for individual freedom and policy reform.
• Center For Court Innovation - Founded as a public/private partnership between the New York State Unified Court System and the Fund for the City of New York, the Center for Court Innovation is a non-profit think tank that helps courts and criminal justice agencies aid victims, reduce crime, and improve public trust in justice. The Center creates new programs that test innovative approaches to public safety problems. Underlying this work is the concept of problem-solving justice—the idea that, rather than simply processing cases, the justice system should seek to change the behavior of offenders and improve public safety. While the Center's model projects cover a broad range of topics—from juvenile delinquency to the reentry of ex-offenders into society—the approach is always the same: rigorous, collaborative planning and an emphasis on using data to document results and ensure accountability. The Center's projects have achieved tangible results like safer streets, reduced levels of fear, and improved neighborhood quality of life.
• The National Drug Court Institute - Promoting education, research, and scholarship for drug court and other court-based intervention programs, including DWI/DUI courts.