Arrestees to get access to lawyers free of charge at Chicago police stations

The figures are even worse for juvenile arrestees — just two out of 1,000 children had an attorney present during questioning, the organization said.

Campanelli, who said she worked on the changes with Chicago Police Department legal counsel Charise Valente, a former Cook County prosecutor, said Illinois has laws requiring police to conspicuously post a notice of suspects’ legal rights — including communicating with family and an attorney.

She brushed aside concerns about the expense of sending staff attorneys to represent individuals being held at all 22 police districts.

“I’m going to make it happen — this is way too important. This is groundbreaking,” she said. “I could have every lawyer do (a rotation) if I don’t get the funding.”

The public defender already has five lawyers at each of the five branch courts attached to police stations throughout the city, including the busy Area Central headquarters. Those attorneys could be dispatched during work hours to calls for help, Campanelli said.

But if enough calls come in, Campanelli said she would consider putting the roughly 450 attorneys in her office in on-call rotations to handle them and seeking outside funding for more lawyers. Campanelli said she would also like to create a specialized unit — similar to the state’s attorney’s felony review unit — to handle only calls from custodial suspects.

On nights, weekends and holidays, the calls would be forwarded to First Defense, a nonprofit which for years has provided volunteer legal counsel to some arrestees being held in police station lockups. First Defense Legal Aid Executive Director Eliza Solowiej on Tuesday called for a new influx of volunteer attorneys and law students licensed to work as lawyers for a legal clinic.

Solowiej said providing early access to lawyers has been shown to reduce costs for the criminal justice system by spotlighting cases likely to fall apart later in court. Campanelli said she also hoped having public defenders involved at an earlier stage would result in more cases being disposed of quickly.

“People who do not need to be incarcerated are freed sooner,” Solowiej said. “That means we do not have to incur the costs as taxpayers.”

First Defense said it’s looking to bolster its ranks of volunteers to take four-hour shifts responding to calls for legal aid. Solowiej said the need is particularly great with juvenile suspects.

“We are ready to protect children in police custody — that they know their rights and that they’re not alone with police and prosecutors,” she said.

First Defense will work with the Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice to track how many calls come in and what happens to those cases as they go through the criminal justice system.

Article Appeared @http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-free-attorneys-police-custody-met-20170314-story.html

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