Osborne Association, Inc.

The Osborne Association offers opportunities for reform and rehabilitation through public education, advocacy, and alternatives to incarceration that respect the dignity of people and honor their capacity to change. We reach more than 10,000 people each year—including the children and families of incarcerated men and women—through a broad range of treatment, educational, and vocational services. Osborne operates at several sites throughout New York State, including the Bronx, Brooklyn, Newburgh, Rikers Island, and in more than 20 state correctional facilities. Comprehensive services are provided in five critical and inter-related areas: 

• Achieving Economic Independence
• Maintaining Healthy Lifestyles
• Reconnecting Families
• Reducing Reliance on Incarceration
• Strengthening Communities

Among our more than 20 programs, Osborne's Court Advocacy Services works with felony defendants, including juvenile offenders, who are represented either through the Assigned Counsel Plan ("18-B") attorneys in New York City, or other attorneys. Staff conduct pre-plea and pre-sentence investigations of defendants' backgrounds to ascertain mitigating circumstances, and advocate client-specific sentencing alternatives--including treatment or other community-based sanctions--in appropriate cases. We target cases in which the defendant would otherwise be detained pretrial or sentenced to a term of incarceration of six months or more. Court Advocacy Services makes referrals and facilitates intake to hundreds of community-based programs that provide mental health, HIV/AIDS, and substance use disorder treatment, as well as to educational and vocational placements. We also escort clients from court or City jails to approved treatment programs. The progress of clients released from pre-trial detention or sentenced to an alternative to incarceration is carefully monitored, with interventions made as necessary to help clients succeed in the community. Regular updates on client progress are also provided to the court and counsel. In addition, Court Advocacy Services provides technical assistance to defense attorneys, including identifying experts (medical, psychological, etc.) and making other service referrals. Some of our Court Advocacy Services staff specialize in working with young people, to serve the needs of youth aged 16 to 19 who have long been considered "adults" under state law, as well as the growing number of children under the age of 16 who have been prosecuted in the adult criminal justice system since the mid-1990s. Court Advocacy Services assistance is free to appointed counsel in assigned cases, and to other attorneys, and their clients.