Exonerees, impacted New Yorkers, public defenders, advocates, and concerned citizens launched the “Alliance to Protect Kalief’s Law” today, a statewide coalition dedicated to preserving New York’s common-sense and successful discovery statute, also known as “Kalief’s Law.” Today’s announcement comes in response to comments made by elected officials and district attorneys on efforts this session to roll back the current statute.

This landmark reform is named in honor of Kalief Browder, a 16-year-old from the Bronx who was wrongfully accused of stealing a backpack in 2010 and languished on Rikers Island for three years awaiting trial. He had no access to the government’s evidence in his case and his family could not afford to pay the $3,000 bail set by a Bronx judge. After his release from Rikers Island, Kalief continued to face emotional and psychological challenges and died by suicide in 2015 at the age of 22.

Since 2020, this law has played a crucial role in helping to prevent wrongful convictions, reduce unjust pretrial incarceration, ensure transparency in the criminal legal system, reveal patterns of police misconduct, and advance due process.

The law has been a tremendous success, resolving cases more quickly and combating court delays. New Yorkers charged with crimes no longer need to face allegations without any information about their case – they promptly receive body-worn camera footage and police paperwork that can tell them exactly what happened and why. People accused of a crime now know the details of their case before making informed plea decisions that have a lifelong impact on them and their families.

Discovery disclosures have also often revealed shocking police misconduct that previously went unseen in reports that were never shown to the person accused or the public.

A review of the entire New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services dataset shows that serious cases are not being dismissed at a higher rate because of discovery reform. And any claims otherwise rely on misleading, cherry-picked data points.

The reforms enacted in 2020 were not accompanied by initial funding to assist with compliance, but Albany lawmakers have since allocated tens of millions of dollars to prosecutor offices throughout the state to hire staff, purchase technology, and develop systems to ensure the timely sharing of evidence.

Instead of rolling back progress, lawmakers must ensure that funding for discovery reform is fully maintained in New York State’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget to ensure this historic law fulfills its intended promise.

“In 2019, New York enacted a fair discovery statute to ensure people accused of crimes have timely and meaningful access to evidence and to mitigate wrongful convictions, coerced pleas, and unnecessary pre-trial delays,” said Lisa Schreibersdorf, Executive Director of Brooklyn Defenders. “This session, it is critical that lawmakers not only reject efforts to undermine the law, but also work to fulfill the promise of a transparent and just discovery system, through proper funding and efficient evidence sharing technology.”

Read the full press release here.