Millions of people every year cannot adequately defend themselves against criminal charges because their lawyers are overburdened, under-resourced, and plagued by systemic conflicts of interest. This portfolio challenges this entrenched unconstitutional system using groundbreaking litigation and advocacy.
Starting in Galveston, Texas, we are fighting to ensure the effective assistance of counsel for indigent people charged with crimes. In this case, we represent a defense attorney who was unjustly removed from the appointments list.
In Houston, Texas, people languish in jail every day because the attorneys appointed by local judges to represent them do not fight for them. The attorneys often carry far more cases than they could competently handle. And the people they represent are often trapped: unable to speak for themselves, and with no one to speak on their behalf.
In Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Civil Rights Corps is fighting to protect the independence of public defenders who provide counsel to poor people in the legal system.
Across the country, hundreds of thousands of people are locked in cages daily simply because they cannot afford to pay for their release. In most cases, the lawyers who are representing those behind bars are appointed by the judge who presides over the case.
In Santa Clara County, CA, we sent a letter to District Attorney Jeffery Rosen demanding he stop a campaign of retaliation against Sajid Khan, a public defender, simply for speaking out against systems of injustice.
Civil Rights Corps is supporting legislation that would create an independent office to provide legal services to poor people in the Texas prison system who are charged with crimes.