"Where a white legal professional might see stats, I see people. Because, after all, the systemic issues that affect my clients have also affected me."
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Got questions about Partners for Justice? We’ve got answers. Here’s a quick guide to what PFJ is, and what we do.
Partners for Justice is a national nonprofit organization. Anyone facing accusation in America should have their Constitutional rights protected, and receive a defense that honors the Sixth Amendment right to counsel.
Generally, we strengthen public defender teams by embedding “Client Advocates” with defenders, to help fulfill urgent needs like housing, employment, medicine, and more. Client Advocates provide non-legal social service support and assistance in navigating court requirements. Client Advocates do not provide legal representation or legal advice.
We also provide advisory support (“capacity building”) and training to public defenders nationwide.
How long have we been doing this? We placed our first teams of Client Advocates in 2018, with two teams in two states. We gathered data on our work, and found out that, for a lot of people facing misdemeanor and low-level felony charges, addressing their basic needs created a path towards success and away from incarceration. Now, we have Client Advocate or capacity building teams working in over 20 states.
Who do you work with? We work with public defender agencies of all sorts and sizes across the United States. We work with large urban defenders, small rural defenders, and even tribal defenders. We work with county-run public defender agencies, statewide public defender systems, and nonprofit defender organizations. We help their clients get access to things they need, like emergency aid, shelter, medicine, and care, as well as, when necessary, outside counsel. This means that we also regularly work with providers like treatment programs and civil legal aid organizations.
Why public defense? Public defenders are a great place to offer people help. Almost everyone who gets arrested is facing struggles outside the courtroom—whether those struggles caused the arrest, or whether they arise from the arrest itself (like losing a job because of a case). By partnering with defenders, we can offer people help in a place they’re already going—their lawyer’s office—and in a context that is fully confidential, so they can be honest about their needs. Public defenders also have massive reach, working with about 80% of people accused of crimes. One out of three people in America has had a loved one represented by a public defender!
Where does PFJ fit in? Generally, our “collaborative defense” approach takes place after a person has been arrested. In America, any person who has been arrested, but not yet convicted of any crime, is legally presumed innocent. Their attorney can refer them to a Client Advocate, who can then conduct an interview to better understand challenges, goals, and needs. The person and their Advocate can then work together to try to secure whatever is necessary for stability. The Advocate can also document each person’s journey and achievements, working on “mitigation” allowing the defense attorney to offer judges and prosecutors better information about the case, and better alternatives to incarceration. When we defend people like this, we bring more people home—87% of the people who received both services and mitigation, in a recent sample, ended their cases without prison or jail time. This expansive form of criminal defense work has been researched and has shown to lower incarceration without harming public safety.
What does capacity building mean? We partner with defender leadership nationwide to assess, advise, and assist them in leveling up their operations. Basically, we meet with defenders, try to understand their needs, offer them guidance and extra hands to do the work necessary to create collaborative defense in their jurisdiction.
Like what? For one, we train staff attorneys and support staff on how to ask the right questions to both understand and more effectively meet their clients’ needs. We also help create resources for partners, such as new intake procedures, referral network management, data collection, and community resource guides.
How are you saving taxpayer money? In the United States, people go to jail about 10 million times every year, with a quarter of people arrested more than once. Most of these arrests—80%—are for misdemeanors, not serious or violent felony crimes. The U.S. spends $182 billion annually on prisons, jails, parole and probation, policing, judicial, and other legal system-related costs. However, locking more people up has had essentially zero impact on the crime rate. Also, prison has other, less visible costs—every year of incarceration shaves two years off a person’s expected lifespan, for example, and increases taxpayer healthcare costs. American families lose $370 billion per year due to lower wages post-conviction. When we keep people working, we can help local economies remain strong and reduce health-related expenses at the same time. Through our work, we are finding solutions that not only address underlying issues and enhance public safety, but also find more efficient paths to healthier, more thriving communities.
How are you funded? PFJ receives funding from various sources, such as individual donations, support from foundations, and government funding via state and local partners. Support for PFJ’s programming is bipartisan, with both Republican and Democrat-run administrations finding value in our work.
I want to learn more; how can I reach out? You can email us at info@partnersforjustice.org.
