Fighting for Justice
Cooperative Approach
Our Work
Establish Partnerships
Plan and forge partnerships with key organizations:
- Other nonprofits in the Criminal Justice arena.
- Educational Programs.
- Mental Health Support.
- Community Colleges.
- Trade schools.
Develop Programs
- Develop programs.
- Identify and hire staff.
- Create relationships with state and local prisons.
- Help identify potential sites for implementation.
Track Program Success
- Data driven tracking of the programs and the results.
- Measured outcomes at every step of the process.
- Data inclusive of the number or participants as well as their success or failure.
- Failure analysis when a participant does not complete a program or is arrested within five (5) years of release.
State Pilot Programs
By working with two very diverse states Advocates 4 Justice will be able to build a successful pilot of what can and should be done within the prison system that will ensure success on reentry of individuals and ultimately reduce recidivism and bring a new level of fairness to the criminal justice system. Since the prison systems are so different in most states, this initiative will initially focus on the criminal justice and prison systems in Alabama and California.
Legal Aims
limit Prosecutorial immunity
- The U.S. Supreme Court will redefine prosecutorial immunity or Congress must do it by repealing the immunity it granted in the Federal Tort Claims Act.
- The President will direct his solicitor general to repudiate the 2010 proclamation, by declaring “No citizen should be framed by its own government.”
- The President will direct his U.S. Attorney General to fire any U.S. Attorney or agent who is found to have used false evidence or testimony or to have withheld exculpatory evidence to get an indictment or conviction.
Advocating for a measure of justice for families of victims of excessive force by police
- Evidence: Should ensure that all interviews of witnesses and targets are recorded and those recordings, along with evidence such as bystander or “body cam” video, be turned over to a lawyer representing the family of the victim.
- Fairness: Currently, no one ensures a racially balanced grand jury or that jurors are neutral in their feelings toward the victim or the people that they are to consider charging with a criminal act. The family’s lawyer should be able to voir dire, to question, potential grand jurors to ensure fairness.
- Check on Truth: Furthermore, the victim’s lawyer should be able to object to proposed evidence or testimony by the government and offer evidence or testimony for the victim, such issues would be decided by a judge, the same as may be done in a civil deposition. If this due process safeguard is important where monetary damages are at stake in a civil proceeding, surely this due process safeguard should be in place where someone’s life is an issue.
- Public’s Right to Know: Finally, while not identifying members of the grand jury, the family’s lawyer should be able to make a public report on what transpired. A well-informed public strengthens the public’s faith in our judicial system and in our democracy.