Community Justice by Hamilton Jr. John R Clear Todd R & John R. Hamilton Jr. & Eric Cadora

Author:Hamilton, Jr., John R, Clear, Todd R & John R. Hamilton, Jr. & Eric Cadora
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Law
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2010-12-07T16:00:00+00:00

Community defender services

Much newer than the idea of community prosecution is the development of community defenders, also called neighborhood defender services. As a result, there are very few studies of this application of the community justice idea in the court area.

Neighborhood defenders would seem to have several advantages over the traditional, downtown and centralized defender services. For example, the neighborhood defender is closer to the community where the defendant lives, and it is often easier to obtain witnesses in support of the defendant at trial and to speak on behalf of the defendant at sentencing. Because many of the crimes occur in the same neighborhood where the defendant lives, it is also easier to gather evidence in those cases that result in a trial.

An equally important advantage of neighborhood-based defender services is that the defender gets to know the neighborhood. Relationships are established with important private-sector interests – such as businesses and churches – and these can translate into valuable supports for clients. Businesses can jobs for clients, and churches can provide other types of assistance. Familiarity with social-service providers can also establish a foundation for clients to deal with the problems that led to their criminal involvement.

This point highlights one of the key differences between neighborhood-based defender services and traditional services. In the latter, the lawyer sees the job as getting the best deal possible for the client – a finding of not guilty, if possible, and a short sentence, if necessary. But the neighborhood defender looks at the broader interests of the defendant, helping the defendant get into drug treatment, for example, or arranging child care and family services for the family members who are not under scrutiny of the court.

As happens for neighborhood-based prosecutors, defenders who work at the neighborhood level find that their job changes. They are no longer exclusively concerned with the tactics of the criminal case. Instead, they also develop an interest in the defendant’s relationships to the neighborhood, and they look for ways to strengthen the client’s integration into the neighborhood.

Box 3.2 Neighborhood Defender Service

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