Prop 47: The Lawyer’s Role in Implementing California’s Landmark Criminal Justice Reform Initiative
Sponsored by Practising Law Institute
Item #150945
Voters overwhelmingly approved California’s landmark Proposition 47, the Safe Neighborhoods & Schools Act, on November 4, 2014, making California the first state in the nation to end felony sentencing for possessing small quantities of drugs and for petty theft. The law took effect on November 5th and had an immediate impact on tens of thousands of pending cases. Proposition 47 also allows Californians with past low-level non-violent felony convictions to clean up their records, removing obstacles that block them from education and career success. However, most eligible individuals have only until November 2017 to petition for retroactive relief.
At the time of Prop 47’s passage, as many as 10,000 incarcerated Californians were eligible to apply for resentencing, and hundreds of thousands of Californians immediately became eligible to seek a reclassification of a previous felony conviction to a misdemeanor. Since then, thousands of resentencing petitions have been filed and judges have resentenced and released more than 4,000 people from state prison. At the local level, Public Defenders and reentry legal service providers around the state have mobilized to provide relief to as many eligible people as possible, but the clock is ticking and more legal services are needed.
What You Will Learn
At the time of Prop 47’s passage, as many as 10,000 incarcerated Californians were eligible to apply for resentencing, and hundreds of thousands of Californians immediately became eligible to seek a reclassification of a previous felony conviction to a misdemeanor. Since then, thousands of resentencing petitions have been filed and judges have resentenced and released more than 4,000 people from state prison. At the local level, Public Defenders and reentry legal service providers around the state have mobilized to provide relief to as many eligible people as possible, but the clock is ticking and more legal services are needed.
What You Will Learn
- Content and impact of Proposition 47, the Safe Neighborhoods & Schools Act
- How Prop 47 resentencing works in practice, including case law updates
- Nuts and bolts on petitioning for resentencing and filing for reclassification
- How to read a California Department of Justice RAP sheet
- An overview of California reentry record remedies, including Penal Code section 1203.4 set aside and dismissal (“expungement”) and Certificate of Rehabilitation
- An overview of the impact of Prop 47 and other new California laws on immigrants with conviction histories
- The benefits and limits of Prop 47 relief with respect to immigration consequences, professional licensing, employment, voting, jury service and gun rights
- How to work with clients with conviction histories
- Where to direct low-income clients for reentry legal services and other support
- How attorneys can plug into pro bono networks to provide Prop 47 legal services in underserved areas
- How pro bono managers can create their own Prop 47 program
Chairperson:
Margaret Dooley-Sammuli ~ Criminal Justice and Drug Policy Director, ACLU of California
Speakers:
Hillary Blout ~ Statewide Proposition 47 Implementation Director, Californians for Safety and Justice
Rose Cahn ~ Senior Soros Justice Fellow and Director, Immigrant Post-Conviction Relief Project, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area
Susan L. Champion ~ Staff Attorney, Three Strikes Project, Stanford University Law School
Nora C. Cregan ~ Pro Bono Attorney Network Manager, Californians for Safety and Justice
Karen Flynn ~ Chief Assistant Public Defender, Sacramento County Public Defender
Eliza Hersh ~ Director, Clean Slate, East Bay Community Law Center
Kathleen T. Howard ~ Executive Director, Board of State and Community Corrections
Dana Isaac ~ Thurgood Marshall Fellow, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area
Jonathan Laba ~ Assistant Public Defender, Contra Costa County Public Defender's Office
Cassandra E. Licker ~ Attorney, Watsonville Law Center & Santa Cruz County Public Defender's Office
Nayantara Mehta ~ Senior Staff Attorney, National Employment Law Project
Zachary Norris ~ Executive Director, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
Vonya Quarles ~ Executive Director, Attorney, Starting Over, Inc.
Endria Richardson ~ Staff Attorney, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
CT Turney ~ Senior Staff Attorney and Reentry Legal Clinic Supervising Attorney, A New Way of Life Reentry Project
FREE!
Total CLE Credits: 6.50
Elimination of Bias: 1.00
General: 5.50
Elimination of Bias: 1.00
General: 5.50
Online
November 17, 2015, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm PT
For additional information:
http://www.pli.edu/Content/Seminar/Prop_47_The_Lawyer_s_Role_in_Implementing/_/N-4kZ1z11hox?Npp=100&Ns=sort_date%7c0&ID=260103
