Donna Lieberman Quotations

When you're arrested in New York City, there's a good chance you'll do the time without being convicted of doing the crime. It's a perversion of justice.

New York has continued to violate the rights of the people it arrests even after the Court of Appeals ruled that arrestees must see a judge within 24 hours of their arrests. The city is failing to comply with the law, and it's up to the City Council to set things right.

New York City must meet its legal obligation to arraign arrestees in a timely manner.

We're always concerned when the government is maintaining databases of private information and personal information that's really none of the government's business. When a private entity does it, it's a different matter, but it always raises concerns about our privacy because today they may not be sharing it, tomorrow they may be sharing it with other businesses, with people who may be engaged in using it for illicit purposes.

We intend to ask the Department of Education a series of questions to clarify exactly what this program entails and what measures are in place to minimize the intrusions on student privacy. Schools teach by example. It would indeed be unfortunate for us to raise future generations to expect that they have no expectation of privacy.

The policy of searching thousands of subway riders daily without any suspicion that they have done anything wrong is unprecedented, unproductive and unconstitutional.

Of course, the students can hang up on them, Who is going to hang up on Uncle Sam when he comes calling?

This government can't figure out the difference between legal First Amendment rights to criticize the government and terrorism. So we have cause for concern.

This is a chronic problem that daily impacts all New Yorkers, especially communities of color. It disproportionately impacts the African American and Latino communities.

A swab on the outside of a bag is far less invasive than rifling through the personal belongings. We don't yet have enough information about whether this is an effective security measure that does the least possible harm to personal privacy.

It seems the court officers need a bit of a lecture about fundamental rights and their obligation to respect them.

It's one thing to give out your materials, it's quite another to bully and intimidate students.

It should never have gotten to this point. There is absolutely no reason why a person with a hand-held camera needs permission to shoot footage on the streets of New York City.

The military has targeted a vulnerable group of young people. We send our children to school to get an education, not to become military targets.

In many other cases materials are involved in the case under seal. But here it's classified. It's impossible for a defendant to have a fair trial when the courts are acting without input, and there's no way for a defense counsel to have input if he doesn't know what the other side is saying.

Instead of addressing the real problem, which is enforcement, the City Council has chosen to enact an overly broad bill that criminalizes a cultural activity. We live in a city that is the cultural capital of the world, yet it is a crime for a young adult to carry a magic marker. What's next -- watercolors or crayons?