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Be Ready to Protect Them: What’s at Stake when Juveniles Are Alone with the Police?


Be Ready to Protect Them: What’s at Stake when Juveniles Are Alone with the Police?

CHICAGO–(ENEWSPF)–October 28, 2016. First Defense Legal Aid (FDLA) will host a panel discussion and art exhibition to mark the launch of the Englewood Street Law Corps and public service print campaign urging concerned adults to “Be Ready to Protect Them” in the face of the alarming statistic that only 1 or 2 in 1,000 juveniles in Chicago police custody have legal representation.  The event will take place on Friday, October 28, from 3 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the West Side Justice Center, 601 S. California St., in Chicago.  The event is free and open to the public.

Moderated by Vickie Casanova Willis from FDLA and the National Conference of Black Lawyers, a panel will discuss what’s at stake when juveniles are alone with the police and how adults can best help them access their rights. Included on this panel is Aislinn Sol of Black Lives Matter Chicago; Xavier McElrath-Bey of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth; Paul Williams of FDLA’s Street Law Corps; and Herschella Conyers from the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic & the Juvenile Justice Initiative.

There will also be an exhibition of art and writing by people who are or were incarcerated in the CCJTDC called Mitigating Evidence, Vol.2. The exhibit helps interrupt the presumptions, stereotypes and fears about people in detention, jail, and prison. Mitigating Evidence premiered at Chicago Art Department in September 2016 and now travels to the WSJC to become the inaugural exhibition in their newly established Movement Gallery.

Juveniles face elevated levels of vulnerability at the police station. The Chicago Defender recently reported that of the 14,994 youth arrested last year, 96% were charged with a crime but only 0.2% had a lawyer at the station. This number is well below the 0.6% of all Chicago arrestees who have an attorney present in the first 48-72 hours after an arrest. The overwhelming majority are African American. To combat these injustices facing Chicago’s young people, First Defense is announcing two initiatives to increase station visits to juvenile arrestees-our new “Be Ready” public education campaign and the Englewood Street Law Corps. First Defense is still the only way for juveniles or adults to access legal representation in CPD custody, 24 hours a day, free of charge, at 1-800-LAW-REP4.

First Defense Legal Aid (FDLA), a nonprofit organization that educates Chicagoans about how to assert their constitutional rights and mobilizes volunteer attorneys to protect those rights in CPD stations 24/7; West Side Justice Center (WSJC); and Free Write Arts and Literacy, an organization that facilitates writing & arts programming for youth in the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (CCJTDC).  Additional sponsorship comes from the National Conference of Black Lawyers, the African American Legacy Fund, and AmeriCorps.

For additional information about the event, call 773-354-8581 or visit www.first-defense.org.

Source: www.first-defense.org

 

 


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