Court Warriors

practice of being over-charged by prosecutors and the odds stack quickly against a fair and balanced deliberation by the person facing the charges. And in all statistical probability, family members are going to be represented by a court-appointed attorney – a public defender or a private attorney who is contracted with the county or state. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics data collection on indigent defense systems, publicly financed counsel represented over 80% of felony defendants in the 75 most populous counties. These attornies, while often more trial experienced, and having access to county resources for important tools such as investigators and motions experts, often have an excessive caseload, and are juggling numerous cases at the same time. With this web of systemic pressures, individuals plead guilty early and often to charges they would have fought if the context of the decision was not so coercive.

And while the fallout on communities of having fathers, sons, mothers and daughters incarcerated is immeasurable -- those left in the wake of a biased criminal justice system are the very people who can change it. Indeed, it is these same families and communities targeted by the system who can organize to transform what is fundamentally flawed. The irony of the isolation of the criminal justice system is that the individuals facing incarceration have families, and are valued members of larger communities – neighborhoods, community centers, unions, faith-based institutions – that are all invested in their success and freedom. Communities often say “we are all doing the time” after a sentence has been doled out on a loved one. But the impression of direct impact and participation need not only by after the fact, and rather can be used to stop the incarceration in the first place.

The organizing and support systems are already in place, and need only to be activated. These community hubs that families and individuals are already a part of, the places they go to when in a time of crisis, are the very institutions that can be the most effective agents of change. Most hubs would participate in a case if they knew they could, and if they knew how.

Unfortunately, the courtroom is perceived as a space only for lawyers, and caring communities sometimes relinquish power at the most critical time – when the case of a loved one enters the court system. Consequently, those who may call for justice for a friend or family member are regulated to being passive observers as the machinery of the court system hand-delivers a loved one into the prison or jail system.

Yet what if family and community played an active role in supporting an individual facing charges?

What would happen if a community organizing ethic – the basic premise that we are stronger together than we are alone