PLI is pleased to collaborate with the California Commission on Access to Justice to bring you this important new program!

Transcription

1 Prop 47: The Lawyer s Role in Implementing California s Landmark Criminal Justice Reform Initiative San Francisco, Live Webcast and November 17, 2015 PLI is pleased to collaborate with the California Commission on Access to Justice to bring you this important new program! Why You Should Attend Voters overwhelmingly approved California s landmark Proposition 47, the Safe Neighborhoods & Schools Act, on November 4, 2014, making California the first state in the nation to end felony sentencing for possessing small quantities of drugs and for petty theft. The law took effect on November 5 th and had an immediate impact on tens of thousands of pending cases. Proposition 47 also allows Californians with past low-level non-violent felony convictions to clean up their records, removing obstacles that block them from education and career success. However, most eligible individuals have only until November 2017 to petition for retroactive relief. At the time of Prop 47 s passage, as many as 10,000 incarcerated Californians were eligible to apply for resentencing, and hundreds of thousands of Californians immediately became eligible to seek a reclassification of a previous felony conviction to a misdemeanor. Since then, thousands of resentencing petitions have been filed and judges have resentenced and released more than 4,000 people from state prison. At the local level, Public Defenders and reentry legal service providers around the state have mobilized to provide relief to as many eligible people as possible, but the clock is ticking and more legal services are needed. What You Will Learn Content and impact of Proposition 47, the Safe Neighborhoods & Schools Act How Prop 47 resentencing works in practice, including case law updates Nuts and bolts on petitioning for resentencing and filing for reclassification How to read a California Department of Justice RAP sheet An overview of California reentry record remedies, including Penal Code section set aside and dismissal ( expungement ) and Certificate of Rehabilitation An overview of the impact of Prop 47 and other new California laws on immigrants with conviction histories The benefits and limits of Prop 47 relief with respect to immigration consequences, professional licensing, employment, voting, jury service and gun rights How to work with clients with conviction histories Where to direct low-income clients for reentry legal services and other support How attorneys can plug into pro bono networks to provide Prop 47 legal services in underserved areas How pro bono managers can create their own Prop 47 program

2 Who Should Attend Legal services lawyers Criminal defense lawyers Pro bono managers and lawyers Immigration attorneys Law students Anyone interested in the nitty-gritty of implementation of voter-approved Proposition 47 The training will be particularly useful for legal advocates who provide or are interested in providing reentry legal services in California, and will prove helpful for new attorneys and for those with experience who want to explore new areas of practice. Program Schedule 9:00 Program Overview and Introductions Margaret Dooley-Sammuli 9:15 Prop 47 One Year In: What s Been Done, What s Left to Accomplish and What s in the Way This panel will report on the statewide implementation of Prop 47 to date, including the numbers of people who have obtained relief, the number of people still eligible for relief, and the areas of highest need. Panelists will also address Prop 47 legal and legislative developments over the last year. Hillary Blout, Susan Burton, Susan L. Champion 10:15 Nuts and Bolts: Resentencing and Reclassification This panel will discuss in detail what attorneys need to know to petition for resentencing or file for reclassification under Prop 47, including application to juvenile cases. This panel will also include case studies and cover how different communities have implemented creative methods of outreach and legal service provision through Prop 47 events. Karen Flynn, Jonathan Laba, Endria Richardson, CT Turney 11:30 Networking Break 11:45 How to Read a RAP Sheet: Determining Eligibility for Prop 47 and Other Reentry Remedies This panel will cover how to read official California Department of Justice records of arrest and prosecution, called a RAP sheet, as well as sample county criminal records; describe eligibility for the various reentry remedies available under California law (e.g., 17(b), expungement and

3 Certificate of Rehabilitation); and provide real-time opportunities to interact with the panel to practice. Eliza Hersh, Dana Isaac 12:45 Lunch Break 1:45 Cultural Competency: Working with Clients with Conviction Histories and How to Help Citizens and Non-Citizens Overcome Barriers to Reentry This panel will provide the tools to best serve clients who have faced arrest, conviction and incarceration. We will discuss how to develop a positive relationship with clients, informed by the unique challenges that formerly incarcerated people face when transitioning back into their communities. The panel will specifically address how Prop 47 and reentry relief in general can help people overcome the barriers to immigration, professional licenses, employment, voting rights, jury service and gun ownership that prior contact with the criminal justice system can pose. Rose Cahn, Nayantara Mehta, Vonya Quarles 2:45 Networking Break 3:00 Joining or Creating a Prop 47 Pro Bono Program This panel will discuss the different options for law firms, law schools and individual attorneys to engage in existing Prop 47 pro bono programs or establish their own. It will address the various options for how to break down the Prop 47 petition and application process into distinct parts, what level of expertise and amount of time each of those pieces requires and other recommendations. Nora C. Cregan, Cassandra E. Licker 4:00 Prop 47: Next Steps on Implementation, Capturing Savings to Invest in Prevention This panel will provide information on what comes next in Prop 47 implementation, including calculation and distribution of cost savings for school programs, mental health and drug treatment programs and victims services. This panel will cover how communities can access those funds for justice reinvestment in their communities. Hillary Blout, Kathleen Howard, Zachary Norris 5:00 Adjourn

4 Faculty Chairperson Margaret Dooley-Sammuli Director of Criminal Justice & Drug Policy ACLU of California San Diego, California Hillary Blout Statewide Proposition 47 Implementation Director Californians for Safety and Justice Susan Burton Executive Director A New Way of Life Reentry Project Los Angeles, California Rose Cahn Senior Soros Justice Fellow and Director, Immigrant Post-Conviction Relief Project Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area San Francisco, California Susan L. Champion Staff Attorney, Three Strikes Project Stanford Law School Stanford, California Nora C. Cregan Pro Bono Attorney Network Manager Californians for Safety and Justice Karen Flynn Chief Assistant Public Defender Sacramento County Public Defender Sacramento, California

5 Eliza Hersh Director, Clean Slate East Bay Community Law Center Berkeley, California Kathleen Howard Executive Director Board of State and Community Corrections Sacramento, California Dana Isaac Thurgood Marshall Fellow Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area San Francisco, California Jonathan Laba Assistant Public Defender Contra Costa County Public Defender s Office Martinez, California Cassandra E. Licker Equal Justice AmeriCorps Fellow, Attorney Watsonville Law Center Watsonville, California Nayantara Mehta Senior Staff Attorney National Employment Law Project Zachary Norris Executive Director Ella Baker Center for Human Rights Vonya Quarles Executive Director, Attorney Starting Over, Inc. Corona, California

6 Endria Richardson Staff Attorney Legal Services for Prisoners with Children San Francisco, California CT Turney Senior Staff Attorney and Reentry Legal Clinic Supervising Attorney A New Way of Life Reentry Project Los Angeles, California Program Attorney: Christina Thompson