Partners in the Fight for Justice
Four out of five people who face the justice system will be represented by a court-appointed attorney, a Public Defender who is doing heroic work but has limited time and resources for each case. The goal of Participatory Defense is to provide additional leverage to overburdened public defenders.
Participatory Defense empowers the families of the accused to assist lawyers in gathering material for mitigation and defense. Families are well-positioned to prepare social biographies, identify discrepancies in police reports and other discovery, and rally members of the community to show up in court.
Raj Jayadev, who was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in recognition of his work with Participatory Defense, speaks about the vital partnership between families and Public Defenders at the Smart on Crime Innovations Conference in NYC in October, 2017.
This partnership of community and public defender offices can lead to systemic impact well beyond individual cases. Participating in cases and being able to “look under the hood” of the courts shows where community power can also be flexed to change policies and bring loved ones home, whether that be wrongful charging practices, mandatory sentences or even ensuring that public defenders are given the budgetary resources to do what the community needs them to do.
The tangible impact of family and community participation on cases is undeniable. Participatory defense efforts across the country have contributed to acquittals, charges dismissed and reduced, prison terms changed to rehabilitation programs, and even life sentences taken off the table. These are the outcomes that the accused, families, communities, and Public Defenders all want. That’s what we can achieve when we work together.
Resources for Defense Attorneys
Trainings
The Participatory Defense family and community organizing model was developed by the Albert Cobarrubias Justice Project (ACJP), which offers trainings for defense attorneys. ACJP and public defenders offices have achieved especially positive outcomes through the use of social biography videos.
As a member of the Participatory Defense Network, San Diego Participatory Defense leads introductory sessions for local defense attorneys on the origins, principles, and workings of Participatory Defense. Using case examples, we show how families, communities, and defenders have collaborated to impact the outcomes of cases, and we discuss ways defenders can improve relationships with their client communities. Trainings also cover how community and defender partnerships can lead to systemic changes in the courts.
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