FOCUS St. Louis’ Post

As we head into the New Year, I'm reflecting on what Lawndale Christian Legal Center accomplished in 2023 and looking ahead optimistically into 2024. I am sending a big thank you to everyone who supported the impact we are having on the communities we serve. If you have not made a year end gift to LCLC, you have one more day to donate here: https://lnkd.in/gE669Tyz If you have already donated, I hope you take a moment this weekend to reflect on the difference you have made -- the lives you have touched that will be better off because of you. The impact we've had is the result of all of us working together to make it happen. THANK YOU! Let's play the 2023 highlight reel (enjoy!): - Robin Steinberg, the national leader in community holistic defense, is supporting us with help from The Bail Project, one of our best-ever partners - Nearly completed the consenting process for our RCT -- 630 of the 660 consented with more coming in this week - Secured $3MM funding to sustain our successful roll out of Community Release with Support + expand into Maywood and Rolling Meadows - Illinois ended cash bail in September! And we are proving it's safer and successful! - Deepened our partnership with CLIHTF to connect our clients to housing - Awarded $5MM in city funding to house our clients, the largest investment in our clients' housing needs likely in the history of Chicago! - Raised $21MM in capital funding to construct our Residential Workforce Development Center! - Completed nine-month SWOT analysis and have been implementing solutions since - Unprecedented earned media coverage due to the great work our team is doing! The impact we're having is undeniable: - Community Holistic Defense -- ~340 youth served annually, 82.2% not catching new cases while in our care, 75% are being connected to critical social supports, 53% progressed in employment, 66% progressed in school, 46% no permanent felony records, 62% stay home instead of prison - Community Release with Support -- ~3,000 clients served annually, 98% returned to court, 64% cases dismissed, 100% received court reminders and transportation as needed, 57% linked to social services pending trial - Restorative Justice Community Courts -- we started the first in North Lawndale, two more have been added, 219+ emerging adults served, 84% charged with felony weapon possession, 86.9% have not caught new cases compared to 34.8% from a matched control group (conversely only 13.1% caught new cases in RJCC vs. 65.2% outside of RJCC) - Housing Justice -- We linked ~50 clients to housing with over 100 family members + another forty families in the queue for 2024. We go into 2024 with the unique expertise and value we have created in the field of criminal justice over the last fourteen years. We go into 2024 with a bright future, bold vision, and a great team of people dedicated to making our world better. Happy New Year!

These are great points made here around the relevance of not only a victim impact statement, but also community impact statements. Surveying Canadians by province can help establish what community standards are, and violations of that. Important #legal #safeguarding discussion.

Why should we talk about reparations? Why can't Black people just "move on"? Taonga Leslie offers a three-part explanation in his brief article for the American Constitution Society. First, the end of slavery was not the end of harm to Black citizens. Exploitation and discrimination continued at all levels of social interactions. In many ways, slavery was transformed, not abolished. Second, the EFFECTS of slavery created inequities that are present today, including disparate gaps between Black and white populations across wealth, education, health, and rates of incarceration. Finally, from a legal perspective, slavery was an unjust injury to a population of people who deserve a remedy. Direct payments to victims (and their descendants) of past harms were made by Germany to survivors of the Holocaust and by the U.S. Congress to victims of the Japanese American internment. Why have Black descendants been excluded from such remedies? Lawyers can (and should) be part of the movement for reparations because we have a duty to fight for justice. We have the power to help craft laws and create legal solutions. I believe #RacialJustice is the defining issue of my generation. It's why I came to #LawSchool. I am excited to participate in the movement for reparations and am hopeful to be part of the change.

"Success is not only found in achieving a specific outcome but in the meaningful steps taken towards understanding and reconciliation." Restorative Justice is about the journey, not the destination – and success can be measured in many different ways. Daniel Cunningham from Victim First (Catch22) explains in our latest blog: https://lnkd.in/eWrUgCWi

How we talk about evictions matters. Learn more:

My first three weeks at the Prisoners’ Rights Project have been incredibly meaningful. The dedicated attorneys at PRP work on many different issues in both NYC jails and state prisons. I have been lucky enough to learn from the passionate PRP team about the many forms of advocacy they practice, including their current litigation docket. From solitary confinement to access to medical care, the rights of people who are incarcerated are continually being violated and are in need of defense. It is far too easy for people in jails and prisons to be ignored, which makes the team’s care for and centering of their clients even more impactful to witness. As part of the larger Legal Aid Society, my internship with PRP has also provided me with the opportunity to learn from and participate in other units’ work. Yesterday I made my first visit to Rikers Island, where myself, other interns, and members of the Community Justice Unit registered people to vote. We visited multiple housing blocks and met with dozens of people—most of whom were between 19 and 25 years old. As with other my other visits to various carceral institutions, the most striking part of the experience was how meaningful our presence was to those inside. This speaks to the isolation and alienation of incarceration and the profound impact it has on people’s sense of self-worth. Another big take away from this experience was how few people outside of this field know that Rikers is a pretrial detention facility and therefore the vast, vast majority of people there have yet to be convicted of a crime. Many are there simply because they cannot afford to pay exorbitant bail. Further, even if they had been convicted of a crime, they would still have the right to vote in NY state! In some states (such as Florida), people must pay a myriad of fees and restitutions before their right to vote is reinstated. These laws and practices are just a few of the many ways we punish people for their economic status. If you are as outraged by this as I am, please use the link below to donate to Equal Justice America. This helps fund fellowships for people like me that are working to ensure access to civil representation for everyone—regardless of wealth status. https://lnkd.in/gkvURST5 #EJAFellowUpdate, Equal Justice America, The Legal Aid Society, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles

I subscribe to The Marshall Project website and I receive their daily newsletters (https://lnkd.in/gE7_FsDv). If you are familiar with The MP, you know that the premise of the articles are routinely adversarial to law enforcement and primarily progressive in ideology. Which is precisely why I force myself to read them. It's important to understand all sides of the issues facing law enforcement. Which brings me to today's posting. The MP article is entitled "Policing experts on campus arrests" (https://lnkd.in/grMAMTGm). The premise of the article is that the dispersement tactics were not sensitive enough. This excerpt gives you a flavor for the tone of the article: "...Last week, several criminologists told Reuters that aggressive police tactics were at odds with research and best practices developed after the 2020 protests over the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer." With all due respect to the academic scholars who opine on police response, the need to restore order and civil rights was the primary reason for the deployment of law enforcement to disperse unlawful crowds recently on college campuses. The notion that law enforcement are required to "negotiate" for each arrest scenario is implausible. By the time law enforcement was requested to disband campus agitators (referred to by the media as "peaceful protestors" for which many of them were not), the negotiations and de-escalation alternatives had already been exhausted. And often times, violence and criminal activity has already occurred and/or is in progress when the request for resources was made. The occupiers refused to disperse and subsequently were arrested. Cooperation and willful obedience would have averted the need for arrests. It's that simple . It's not surprising that the academic scholars, media and other critics are blaming the peacekeepers. Happens every time. Law enforcement are the heroes here, not the villains. Widespread media reporting is not always transparent and detailed. It is designed to suit a particular narrative. Those of us who had a front row seat to the crowd dispersal tactics of previous generations (70's, 80's, 90's) know that today's responses were professional and dignified. But the critics will never be satisfied.

What an important step in recognizing the more subtle, but equally devastating forms of family violence. 75% of the Family Law self-reps I assist are or have struggled with a pattern of non-physical post-separation abuse. Education and awareness regarding the various forms of family violence is critical to developing solutions to reduce this behaviour in our family law courts.

Good advice