Special thanks to Time Ideas for running Raj Jayadev’s piece on participatory defense! An excerpt is below, and link to full article…

At the Albert Cobarrubias Justice Project, we encourage families to join their loved ones’ defense team

A family works with Charisse of ACJP to create a Social Biography Packet to be used by the defense attorney in negotiation with the prosecutor.

While police in the streets or inhumane conditions in the prisons have been focuses of social justice movements, the machinery between arrest and incarceration — the courts — have remained a social justice blind spot. In San Jose, California, where I’m from, families have started use the science of community organizing to penetrate the court system. Families who have loved ones facing charges meet on a weekly basis; support each other; and share knowledge about what helps defense attorneys and what sways judges and juries. They form a network behind the person who has been arrested. (Click here to go to full article on Time.com)