Re-entry Legal Clinic
Involvement in the criminal justice system shouldn’t mean an end to all future opportunities. We helped support a free legal clinic for former offenders to get back on their feet and build better lives.
Helping former offenders to rebuild and training young lawyers to help them get there.
The Clinic, housed at Loyola Law School, provides free legal representation to people with past involvement in the criminal justice system.
The goal is to help those individuals navigate legal problems related to employment, marriage, driving, housing, and child support as they reenter society. Our SPARK funding covered staff costs to launch the program in partnership with the City of Los Angeles during the program’s first year in 2017.
Impact Stories:
Mayra was sent to the California Youth Authority when she was 14 years old and released at age 18. Mayra is now 28 years old, working full-time, and attending community college, completing prerequisites for nursing school. Mayra intends to enroll in nursing school in the Fall, 2018. CCCJP filed a motion to seal her juvenile record in the Los Angeles Superior Court/Los Padrinos Juvenile court.
Wood was unable to obtain a California driver’s license because of a 1991 traffic ticket in New Jersey. Wood recently was paroled from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation after serving more than 26 years in prison for an offense that occurred in 1991. CCCJP assisted a number of individuals who had traffic violations pending at the time they were incarcerated in state prison; California Vehicle Code 41500 allows for the tickets to be dismissed, thus allowing the individual to obtain her driver’s license.
Key Impact
Addressed 123 matters
Resulted in 54 case dismissals
Served more than 90 Angelenos
Issue Area
Partners
Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs
MFLA Spark Funding
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