CHAPTER ONE
ADVOCACY, PREPARATIONS
& STRATEGIES
1.
INTRODUCTION AND
CAVEAT
2.
INITIAL CONTACT WITH THE POLICE
3.
ARREST
4.
ARRAIGNMENT
5.
PRE-TRIAL
A.
COMPETENCY
B.
ADVOCACY CHALLENGES REGARDING COMPETENCY
6.
TRIAL
CHAPTER ONE PRACTICE SESSIONS
1.
INTRODUCTION AND CAVEAT
While prevention is always the preferable
strategy, the Association for Community Advocacy often is asked to assist
someone who is already in the criminal justice system. What you will read in
this chapter are suggestions and assertions that have grown from 40+ years of
combined experience of Dohn Hoyle and Marsha Katz. This information
represents our experiences in our county and our state (Michigan). Because
each community comes with its own politics, procedures and relationships, both
our successes and our problems may not be similar to those in other
communities. What has been effective in Washtenaw County, Michigan may not be
effective in Ontonagon County, Michigan or Orange County, California. What
works in those counties may not work in ours.
As with everything else we do in partnership
with persons with disabilities, criminal justice advocacy must be practiced
one person at a time in a particular community. Sharing these individual
stories will:
And,
A public entity shall take appropriate steps
to ensure that communications
with applicants, participants, and members of the
public with disabilities are as effective
as communications with others.
A public entity shall furnish appropriate
auxiliary aids and services
where necessary to afford an individual with a disability an equal
opportunity to participate in, and enjoy the benefits of, a service,
program, or activity conducted by a public entity.2
It is the belief of ACA that from the moment a
police officer suspects, or is alerted to, or is made aware of, a
cognitive/communication disability, there exists a mandate under the ADA to
provide reasonable accommodation before any further questioning of the
person. It is our further belief that the only reasonable accommodation is
the provision of a knowledgeable, criminal lawyer, who can act as a
"cognitive interpreter " as well as a lawyer.
This concept is easier to understand when you
consider the similar situation of a police officer attempting to question a
person who is deaf. As soon as the officer realizes the person is deaf, if
the person uses American Sign Language, the officer would arrange for an
interpreter.
Just as with an interpreter for the deaf, the
qualifications of a "cognitive
interpreters" are very important. Family
members and supports coordinators are not qualified "cognitive
interpreters"
even though they can understand a person's method of communication and can
communicate with them in return.
Family members and supports coordinators are
not qualified because, in the criminal justice arena, communication occurs
in a legal context (especially criminal law) and requires legal
expertise in addition to the ability to communicate with the person. The
legal expertise can (and may) always be supplemented by communication
assistance from family members, friends and/or supports coordinators or
advocates, but the legal expertise is the most important element in the
communication accommodation.
Once a lawyer is in place, the job of disability
advocacy really begins. Along with educating the lawyer about the person and
his/her disability, the advocate (professional, family member or friend) is a
great source of information for the judge, probation officers and others in
the system.
Following are strategies, ideas and notes from
our many years of experience that relate to each of the stages in the typical
criminal justice proceeding. These strategies SHOULD be used by
professionals, family members, and friends of the person with a disability, as
well as, by the person him/herself.
EQUAL JUSTICE