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Date: November 25, 2024 Mon
Time: 9:55 pm
Time: 9:55 pm
Results for pretrial intervention
3 results foundAuthor: Council of State Governments Justice Center Title: Improving Responses to People with Mental Illnesses at the Pretrial Stage: Essential Elements Summary: The period between a person's arrest and his or her case being adjudicated presents a significant opportunity to safely minimize future criminal justice involvement and make needed connections to behavioral health care. Nationally, about 17 percent of people entering jails pretrial meet criteria for a serious mental illness. In addition, about three-quarters of people with serious mental illnesses in jails have a co-occurring substance use disorder. These are individuals who, by and large, are eligible to receive publicly funded health care. Many communities have found ways to make effective connections to treatment for some individuals as part of pretrial release or diversion programs, but policymakers and practitioners continue to struggle to identify and implement research-based policies and practices at this stage of the criminal justice system. This report introduces essential elements for responding to people with mental illnesses at the pretrial stage, including decisions about pretrial release and diversion. These elements encourage data collection not only to help individual communities, but also for future researchers who are dedicated to these important questions. Details: New York: Council of State Governments Justice Center, 2015. 42p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 30, 2015 at: https://csgjusticecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Improving_Responses_to_People_with_Mental_Illnesses_at_the_Pretrial_Stage_Essential_Elements.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: https://csgjusticecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Improving_Responses_to_People_with_Mental_Illnesses_at_the_Pretrial_Stage_Essential_Elements.pdf Shelf Number: 137181 Keywords: Mental Health ServicesMentally Ill OffendersPretrial InterventionPretrial Release |
Author: Open Society Foundations Title: Improving Pretrial Justice: The Roles of Lawyers and Paralegals Summary: On any given day, some three million people are held in pretrial detention around the world. Countless millions are unnecessarily arrested and detained by law enforcement agencies annually. Those in pretrial detention are often held in conditions and subject to treatment that is far worse than that experienced by sentenced prisoners. Pretrial detainees—who have not been tried or found guilty—can languish behind bars for years. Some detainees may literally be lost in the system. Early intervention by lawyers and paralegals can have a positive impact on pretrial justice in general and pretrial detention in particular. Examples from across the globe show that early intervention schemes can reduce the use of pretrial detention, improve the performance of criminal justice personnel, lead to more rational and effective decision-making, and increase accountability and respect for the rule of law. Lawyers and paralegals have a central role to play in advising, assisting, and representing individuals at the pretrial stage of the criminal process. Ensuring legal assistance is available at the earliest possible time allows for the most effective use of resources, as cases are dealt with at the front end of the criminal justice system. Helping to ensure that appropriate decisions regarding pretrial detention and release are made early on can reduce the use of pretrial detention. This does not just benefit the individual suspect: there are wider benefits for the administration of justice and the efficiency and effectiveness of the criminal justice system as a whole. Early intervention can play a key role in educating the public about their rights, and improving transparency, accountability, and confidence in the criminal justice system. International law requires the provision of state funding for legal advice and representation where this is in the interests of justice and the suspect or defendant does not have sufficient means to pay for it. Legal assistance at the early stages of the criminal process is not only an important right for individuals but, when effectively implemented, also produces significant benefits for criminal justice systems and for social integration: it can save money and resources, reduce the use of pretrial detention, encourage diversion from formal criminal justice processes, reduce torture and corruption, improve the functioning of the criminal justice system, and increase transparency and foster confidence in the rule of law. Fortunately, there are replicable models—from developed and developing countries alike—of effective early intervention schemes involving lawyers and paralegals. Recommendations for governments: • Make available sufficient resources to comply with international and national obligations for the provision of legal advice and assistance at the early stages of the criminal process, in particular for those who do not have sufficient means to pay for it. • Develop structures and mechanisms to make the right to legal advice and assistance practical and effective. In particular, establish a legal aid institution that is independent of government and responsible for making the right to legal advice and assistance practical and effective—particularly at the early stages of the criminal process. • Review and update existing laws and procedures concerning: the right to legal advice and assistance at the early stages of the criminal process; access by lawyers and paralegals to police stations, police interviews, and pretrial detention and prison facilities; the recording of police interviews of suspects and witnesses; representation by paralegals where appropriate; the circumstances in which a defendant should be entitled to pretrial release; maximum periods of detention in police custody and pretrial detention; the maximum length of criminal proceedings and maximum number of adjournments; diversion from formal criminal proceedings; and mechanisms for enforcing them. • Ensure that reliable statistical information is routinely collected on critical aspects of the criminal justice system, including: the number of and reasons for arrests, the numbers of people charged and the nature of the charges, the numbers of people in pretrial detention, the length of detention, and the number of people receiving legal advice and representation. Recommendations for legal aid management organizations, NGOs, and professional legal bodies: • Seek to ensure that governments implement the recommendations set out above. • Identify existing mechanisms and resources for providing legal advice and assistance to suspects and defendants, especially at the early stages of the criminal process, including at police stations. Work with existing stakeholders, including bar associations, NGOs, the judiciary, and other criminal justice personnel, to identify the interventions that are most needed and how they may best be provided. • Map existing and potential sources of funding for the provision of legal advice and assistance and seek to match them with schemes designed to have the greatest impact on pretrial detention and pretrial justice generally. • Recognize the range of functions that can be performed through lawyer and paralegal schemes, including: advice, assistance, and representation to individuals; education and training for suspects, defendants, prisoners, communities, and criminal justice personnel; reform of systems, processes, and criminal justice policies. Consider which functions are likely to be the most effective given the local context. • Consider establishing pilot schemes to test the most appropriate structures and mechanisms for providing legal advice and assistance, with a view to evaluating the costs and demonstrating the financial and other benefits. • Document and disseminate promising practices and information about the financial and other benefits of early intervention by lawyers and paralegals. Details: New York: Open Society Foundations, 2012. 109p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 8, 2017 at: http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/16820/1/improving-pretrial-justice-20120416.pdf Year: 2012 Country: International URL: http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/16820/1/improving-pretrial-justice-20120416.pdf Shelf Number: 144945 Keywords: BailLegal AidPretrial DetentionPretrial InterventionPretrial ReleasePublic Defenders |
Author: Redpath, Jean Title: African Innovations in Pre-trial Justice Summary: This review seeks to showcase innovative interventions to reduce pre-trial detention in African countries, so that they may be adapted for use in other low and lower-middle income countries. The majority of pre-trial interventions in African have tended to focus on providing access to paralegal legal advice and assistance to persons already held in pre-trial detention in prisons. The Paralegal Advisory Service Institute (PASI) of Malawi is the archetypal example of an intervention in which paralegal lay workers with specific training provide legal advice and practical assistance to detainees in prisons. PASI's model operates on the premise that paralegals are less expensive than lawyers, yet as good as lawyers, because of their highly specific training on pre-trial issues. The PASI-type intervention reaches those most in need of assistance - persons held in pretrial detention in prisons - and frequently has immediate and profound impact on individuals and their families' lives through securing their release from frequently illegal, arbitrary or unduly lengthy detention. Adaption of the PASI model is however possible. In this review two interventions from Malawi are considered which arise from adaptions of the original PASI model. Both of these aim to prevent prison admissions to pre-trial detention, rather than to target those already in prison. One such adapted intervention from PASI itself seeks to provide early access to legal assistance in police stations and courts, preferably before a court has ordered that a detainee be remanded awaiting trial. The impact of the project includes the sensitisation of police officials to the rights of detainees and to other pathways to release of detainees before trial. The second Malawi intervention uses paralegals to facilitate diversion processes. Diversion processes in developed countries were originally designed for use with children, to redirect the resolution of disputes away from the criminal justice process. While diversion of children from the trial process is a relatively common intervention, diversion of adults is less so. The model being piloted in Malawi by CCJP is innovative in leveraging the influence and authority of traditional leaders in implementing an adult diversion scheme, while bringing together the formal and informal justice systems. The aim is to formalise these processes in law. Other longer-lasting impacts include the sensitisation of influential traditional leaders to the rights of detainees and to alternative methods of managing conflict. While the PASI paralegal model has been replicated to good effect across Africa and other developing regions, paralegals have not yet secured a right of appearance in court in any country in which they operate, and thus they cannot represent detainees in court. The legal assistance paralegals can provide is therefore limited. In response to these constraints, from Zambia has emerged a triage model of paralegal assistance. The triage model being piloted by the Prison Care and Counselling Association (PRISCCA) sees the empowerment of longterm prisoners, under the supervision of trained prison officials, in providing basic advice and assistance to fellow detainees. This is the first level of assistance. The second level of assistance involves roving paralegals providing outside practical assistance, such as tracing sureties, and screening cases to identity those in need of legal representation to identify who can or cannot be assisted without legal representation. Lawyers are the third level of assistance. Those who are in need of legal assistance are referred to lawyers, who are employed on retainer by PRISCCA to provide a set amount of legal representation per month. The triage model ensures that all detainees receive an appropriate level of assistance, according to their situation. As indicated above, paralegals have yet to be granted standing to appear in courts of law. They also tend to suffer from a lack of status and formal voice within criminal justice systems. In addition, variable standards of work by some service providers have affected the reputation of paralegals, and consequently the prospects for the formalisation of their role in national criminal justice systems have also been affected. In response to these issues, the Paralegal Alliance Network was established in Zambia. This network seeks to ensure a coherent voice for all paralegal organisations toward better co-operation in the justice system in Zambia, in setting and maintaining standards for paralegals, and in providing an amplified voice advocating for reform. Such advocacy includes advocacy toward formalisation of their role, including the right to appear in court on behalf of detainees. As a result, Zambia may become the first country to formalise the role of paralegals. Paralegal services are frequently targeted at detainees. Yet families of detainees are often well-placed to assist their detained family members, if they are empowered with sufficient information, regarding bail, sureties and the like. By providing empowerment through legal education to families, the Resource Oriented Development Initiative (RODI) in Kenya helps families secure the release of detainees. An associated rehabilitation and re-integration arm of the project aims to assist detainees in re-entering society and avoiding future detention and provides them with enterprise development and life skills. Systematic monitoring of prisons and places of detention is a key method of preventing human rights abuses, such as arbitrary prolonged detention and torture. Where statemandated institutions are failing to fulfil this role, civil society organisations may embark on monitoring by agreement with the state. In Mozambique, the Human Rights League (Liga) conducts regular prison monitoring which leads to the identification of cases for legal representation, results in reports which help to shape the human rights environment, and informs strategic litigation which in turn improves the policy environment relating to pretrial detention. These activities by Liga have led to permanent change in the pre-trial legislative framework. Ultimately assisting the state in improving the operation of the criminal justice system is necessary when criminal justice problems are systemic. In Liberia, Prison Fellowship Liberia (PFL) paralegals, and Justice and Peace Commission (JPC) lawyers work together with government in an intervention which has multiple entry points, but which seeks to identify and resolve systemic problems while providing emergency relief through expedited court processes. The close co-operation ensures long term impact through the implementation of systemic change. All of these organisations, through their interventions, bring something new to the pre-trial arena. It is hoped that by documenting their models, lessons can be drawn which may inform the development of future successful interventions in other contexts. Details: Cape Town: University of Western Cape, Civil Society Prison Reform Initiative, 2015. 46p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 11, 2017 at: http://acjr.org.za/resource-centre/Innovations.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Africa URL: http://acjr.org.za/resource-centre/Innovations.pdf Shelf Number: 147214 Keywords: Legal AidLegal Assistance to the PoorParalegalsPretrial DetentionPretrial InterventionPretrial Justice |