SOCIAL JUSTICE BLOG

Read and share extraordinary stories from the frontlines of social change

Class Action Challenges San Diego's Criminalization of Homelessness
Class Actions, Homelessness Teddy Basham-Witherington Class Actions, Homelessness Teddy Basham-Witherington

Class Action Challenges San Diego's Criminalization of Homelessness

A lot is at stake in this case. Punitive approaches to sheltering in vehicles are reflective of the larger, nationwide policy shift toward criminalizing visible poverty in a harmful, expensive, and futile effort to police our way out of the growing homelessness crisis. When inherently innocent survival conduct, like sheltering, is treated as a punishable offense, the rights and freedoms of all human beings are threatened. It is critical to fight for protection of our freedoms in the courts.

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Criminal Justice Reform, Debtors' Prison Teddy Basham-Witherington Criminal Justice Reform, Debtors' Prison Teddy Basham-Witherington

Cleaning Up The Criminal Justice System in Paris, Texas

Under Texas law, individuals can be required to pay for their court-appointed defense attorney. While the Court of Criminal Appeals has clarified that a court must determine that a defendant actually has the ability to pay attorney fees before ordering them to do so, not all courts follow the law. In Lamar County, a local defense attorney, relatively new to Texas, was shocked when he saw defendants ordered to pay money they didn’t have for a court-appointed attorney, and then threatened with jail if they missed payments.

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Black Lives Matter, Class Actions, Racial Justice Teddy Basham-Witherington Black Lives Matter, Class Actions, Racial Justice Teddy Basham-Witherington

Black Lives Matter: Advocating for Racial Justice in St. Louis County

In May of 2016, Quinton Thomas, a native St Louisan was pulled over in Beverly Hills, a Missouri town of 574 people that is 93% black and receives 26% of its general revenue from court fines and fees. Mr. Thomas was driving his friend to a barber shop to get his haircut when he was stopped by police for having a “busted front bumper.” In the past three years, Mr. Thomas has been pulled over, arrested and jailed for unpaid traffic tickets, and as a result he has lost two jobs and one vehicle, not to mention days of his life, and a sense of safety when he gets behind the wheel.

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