Collection Description
Jeremy Travis, former president of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, initiated Justice in New York: An Oral History in 2006. Based in the Lloyd Sealy Library, with Jeffery Krossler as Oral Historian/Librarian and Director, the project was made possible through a generous grant from Lynn and Jules Kroll. The goal was to interview criminal justice leaders – district attorneys, police commissioners and members of the department, elected officials, defense attorneys, and advocates, individuals concerned with the workings of the system.
Each interview is recorded on cassette tapes and/or a digital recorder. The originals are deposited in Special Collections in the library. Each transcript is bound and the volume is cataloged and placed on the shelves. A digital copy is available here through the Library's Digital Collections.
Oral history is a problematic endeavor. The interview is only as good as the questions asked and the willingness of the interview subject to be open and honest. Some remain guarded, others become expansive. Sometimes memory fails, and details, names and dates are confused. Some individuals have their own set story, and an oral history will add little that is new or especially insightful. Other individuals use the interview as an opportunity to sum up a career; on occasion that means gliding over unpleasant or difficult details. Our purpose was to allow each individual to tell his or her story. In each case, the final transcript has been approved by the interview subject.
Even with those caveats, what emerges from these interviews is more than a collection of personal reminiscences. The interviews shed light on controversies and policy decisions of a particular historical moment. At times, the interviews verge on the philosophical, as with discussion of capital punishment, race relations, or the decriminalization of controlled substances. Always, the interviews contribute to our understanding of the many facets of the criminal justice system – law enforcement, prosecution, incarceration, prisoner re-entry, and electoral politics – and reveal how New York has changed over the decades, as have social and cultural attitudes.
Justice in New York: An Oral History stretches across more than half a century, from the 1950s to the 2010s. Those years saw an unprecedented rise in social unrest and violent crime in the city, and then an equally dramatic drop in crime and disorder. If the interviews have an overarching theme, it is how the city – the police, courts, elected officials, and advocates – addressed and, yes, overcame those challenges. These men and women were actors in that drama, and their narratives stand on their own. The truth or mendacity of the story is for the reader to assess.
Oral Historian and Librarian Jeffery Kroessler directed this project and was the main interviewer and editor of the transcripts, guided by (then) Chief Librarian Larry E. Sullivan who participated in several interviews.
This page provides access to a selection of the oral histories conducted 2006 - 2019. Additional transcripts will be made available as they are completed and approved. 
