A 50-something Indigenous American male was headed to court, just moments away from signing an ill-advised plea deal to avoid jail. His friend Laura Gallier, former co-executive director of the Houston-based Center for the Healing of Racism, then stepped in by placing a call to the local advocacy group Pure Justice.
That call made all the difference in the world.
“Joy Davis of Pure Justice came with me to his court date and met with the defendant and his court-appointed counsel,” shared Gallier with the Defender. “Joy asked counsel a lot of questions and ultimately my friend understood what the plea agreement meant.”
Gallier says her friend was released the next day without having to sign away his claim to innocence via that plea deal.
“He couldn’t believe we were there for him when he had nobody else in his corner,” said Gallier.
Pure Justice also connected the gentleman with legal counsel to pursue a civil case regarding a beating by a jail guard. That individual eventually became part of Pure Justice’s Participatory Defense volunteers whose task is to show up in court and rally defendants’ family members and friends to do the same in order to humanize accused individuals and potentially sway court rulings in their favor.
WHAT IS PARTICIPATORY DEFENSE?
For years, Black people and others have fought to affect change in America’s two-tiered, “color-coded” justice system. The hope has been to transform it into the “color-blind” system it reports to be.
The jury is still out on those results. But what’s already known is the power of a relatively new form of defense for the accused – Participatory Defense.
And the results are game-changing.
Created by Silicon Valley De-Bug, a story-telling, community-organizing, and advocacy organization based in San José, California, Participatory Defense is all about bringing the power of community organizing into the courtroom.
De-Bug founder and coordinator of the Albert Cobarrubias Justice Project Raj Jayadev said during a TED Talk that Participatory Defense is “a methodology for families and communities who have loved ones who are facing charges and how they can impact the outcome of those cases and transform the landscape of power in the courts.”
Foundational to Participatory Defense is creating a community and giving that community a voice.
For nearly a decade, De-Bug has been training organizations nationwide in Participatory Defense, creating a national network.
“It’s a church in Pennsylvania. It’s a parents association in Tennessee. It’s a youth center in Los Angeles,” said Jayadev, author of Protect Your People – How Ordinary Families Are Using Participatory Defense to Challenge Mass Incarceration.
In Houston, it’s a big part of the work done by Pure Justice, a local advocacy organization that “seeks to empower, inspire and activate its members and community supporters to champion restorative justice practices, equity in economic opportunities, and transformation to the criminal justice and economic structures of Harris County for the uplifting of marginalized individuals.”
HOW IT WORKS
Participatory Defense relies on community and relationships for its power.
“Families whose loved ones are facing criminal charges will come to a weekly meeting. It’s half support group, half strategic planning session. And they’ll build a community out of what otherwise would be an isolating and lonely experience… Collectively, the group will find out ways to tangibly and tactically impact the outcome of [cases].”
Its work includes reviewing police reports to find inconsistencies and areas that require more investigation by the defense attorney. These groups also go to court with each other for emotional support and something else that is just as critical.
Community presence in the halls of justice lets “the judge know that the person standing before them is part of a larger community that is invested in their well-being and success.” This same phenomenon – family and friends physically showing up for loved ones – has been shown to produce markedly higher quality care for individuals in hospitals and nursing homes.
The courtroom results have been just as remarkable, and not just because of community presence but also because of their testimonies.
SOCIAL BIOGRAPHIES
A huge part of Participatory Defense is allowing juries and judges to hear words of defense for accused individuals that come directly from communities that know the accused for who they are beyond the legal charges.
Jayadev says social biographies were born out of courtroom pain.
“When we would leave the sentencing hearing and walk back to the parking lot after someone’s loved one just got sent to prison, the most common refrain we would hear wasn’t so much ‘I hate that judge’ or ‘I wish we had a new lawyer.’ What they would say was, ‘I wish they knew him like we know him.’”
Pure Justice’s Operations Director, RoShawn Evans, has regularly deployed these community voices in Harris County courtrooms.
“Participatory defense is where people who are impacted by the system may be experiencing the courts and they don’t have money to possibly pay for a certain type of counsel,” said Evans. “This is where we, not being your lawyer, show up with you to make sure that the people in the courtroom, like the judge or the prosecutor, see that you are not alone and people actually love you.”
Evans and crew also work side by side with the lawyers, producing character videos and character letters (Jayadev calls these social biography videos and packets) “from people who actually love” the accused.
“So, we can paint a different picture about you that isn’t only about the accusations that you face. It shows who you are as a person. It shows the people who love you. It shows who you are to your community,” he added.
IMPACT
Evans has witnessed locally what Jayadev has experienced nationally – astounding, life-changing results in courtrooms.
“We’ve seen sentences reduced, charges dropped, and people released from jail so they can go back to their families and communities,” shared Evans.
Yahcanon Ben Yah, national chairman of The People’s New Black Panther Party, knows all about those positive impacts.
Though not officially operating under the Participatory Defense banner, Ben Yah and his Houston-based organization have participated in “dead-end” cases and helped families attached to those cases find resolution.
One such case involved Rhodashinique Phillips who suspected her three-year-old daughter (Tarija Carter) had been killed by the child’s babysitter and her husband (Shawanda and Huey Hamilton).
“Her daughter had been dead for over a year, and nothing was being done about it at all whatsoever,” said Ben Yah. “So, she contacted us asking if we could assist her in getting the [suspected] perpetrators arrested.”
Ben Yah’s group reviewed the child’s autopsy report, communicated with case detectives and the DA handling the case, initiated their investigation, and turned over information to the DA along with suggestions regarding individuals to interview.
“We were just doing this as a service to the mother. This is what she asked for. Subsequently, the couple was arrested and they were charged with the murder of this three-year-old little girl,” said Ben Yah.
Though that charged couple’s plight is still up to a judge and jury, Ben Yah’s group participated in the defense of the deceased child and her mother seeking resolution.
