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Get the facts about what Client Advocates do at PFJ. Spoiler Alert: they find housing and jobs for low-income families (they’re amazing at it), and they don’t give legal advice.
Partners for Justice
843 posts
Partners for Justice
@PFJ_USA
Transforming public defense across America.
- This is why we have to stop criminalizing schoolyard behavior, truancy, and other kid stuff. Treat kids like kids.
- What does it mean to "empower public defense"? Well, to us it means that making sure anyone who faces criminal accusation does so with support, access to interdisciplinary help, and, most importantly, a team who *listens*. Here are a few examples from the recent days:
- The difference an Advocate makes: We had a client facing ~25 years. Took a plea. Judge rejected it. "Too lenient." Advocate got to work. Made a plan. Re-entry support, housing, employment, stability, family, the works. Judge changed his mind. And now our client is home.
- This is exactly what we were designed for. To intervene in all the horrifying life fallout that can ruin a person's stability even if they get a good outcome in a legal case. Every arrest can destroy your life. Even if it's meritless.
- At PFJ, we pride ourselves on being the best possible wraparound defense team. Because the legal system targets poor people, 80% of people at risk of going to prison or jail get a public defender.
- Knowing the history of disenfranchisement makes the structural racism clearThe 2 states that allow prisoners to vote are also the Whitest – Maine & Vermont. If Washington DC were a state, it would be the Blackest. It also has the highest incarceration rate in the US. A new bill would give people in prison in DC voting rights. theappeal.org/how-a-d-c-lawm…
- Supporting communities with the resources they need instead of policing they don't isn't just a smart move, it's a much-needed act of bravery. theappeal.org/spotlight-a-ci…
- PFJ is in @NewYorker! When we started as a scrappy nonprofit five years ago, we could only dream of the progress we've made - advocates in 10 states, assisting around 7,000 people annually and eliminating nearly 5,000 years of incarceration.
- This is why fighting for parents oftentimes *is* fighting for kids. Because growing up in a home touched by incarceration changes your life, and perpetuates the worst aspects of the system.On Father's Day: 7% of children in this country have a parent currently incarcerated & one in 3 have a parent with a criminal record, but we're only beginning to talk about the effects of mass incarceration on the families of those behind bars. theappeal.org/the-appeal-pod…
- Wouldn't it be great if you could buy the total dismantling of oppressive criminal legal structures and the PIC for black Friday? Yeah... (But donating to our program will push back on the rampant inequities of the system, and improve outcomes for our clients.)I'm just saying if you're sick of Black Friday you can buy someone access to personalized case navigation and support to help them walk away from the criminal legal system by donating to @PFJ_USA
GIF - When the person controlling the footage has the ability to be selective, it's hard to see the footage as objective. Yet that's how video footage gets presented--as objective evidence.Yes! Exactly what’ve been saying for years
- Happy Public Defender Day! We are thinking about how public defenders are so much more than anyone realizes. 59 yrs ago, the right to counsel was ensured by listening to one man's pain. Today, we are still listening. Fighting for what people need. Inside or outside the courtroom.
00:00 - Ahem...180 years *and counting*Weekend good news update: just calculated that to date our work with public defenders at @PFJ_USA has eliminated over 180 YEARS of incarceration for the people we serve! partnersforjustice.org. ICYI etc.
