Rachel Bronstein of Her Justice supports Intro 1144 and broader data collection
Rachel Bronstein, Senior Director of Policy at Her Justice, supports Intro 1144 on gender-based violence data. She urges the city to include service provider and legal system data, not just law enforcement data, and to collect data on divorce proceedings.
You can just go down the line.
Good afternoon, Chair Farias and Chair Brooks-Powers and the members of the committee.
My name is Rachel Bronstein.
I'm the Senior Director of Policy at Her Justice.
For more than 30 years, Her Justice has partnered with women and gender-diverse New Yorkers living in poverty to address family, matrimonial, and immigration legal needs.
Through our pro bono first model, recruiting and mentoring the city's premier law firms to represent our clients, we see firsthand how gender-based violence affects economic stability, health, and safety.
Her Justice supports Intro 1144 and appreciates the Council's commitment to strengthening the City's understanding of gender-based violence through better data collection and reporting.
Our primary recommendation is that the City take an expansive view of what constitutes gender-based violence data.
Law enforcement data is important, but it captures only part of the picture.
Many survivors, particularly immigrants and others who may distrust or fear interaction with the criminal legal system, do not report abuse to law enforcement.
To understand the true scope of need, the city should incorporate data from service providers that work directly with survivors every day and the legal systems in which we work.
Legal service providers have valuable insight into the challenges survivors face and the support they need.
Our own data demonstrates that legal services can advance economic security and well-being.
For example, securing child support.
can provide critical financial stability for families leaving abuse, and our research has shown that obtaining a work authorization improves immigrant survivors' health and stability.
We also encourage the city to collect and analyze data regarding survivors seeking divorce.
As the Council moves forward with efforts to expand access to divorce representation for domestic violence survivors through Intro 1175, there is an important opportunity to address the significant data gap around domestic violence in divorce proceedings.
Better court data would help policymakers assess need, evaluate services, and inform future investments.
Thank you for your leadership and the opportunity to testify.