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Direct Representation
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Systemic Advocacy & Policy
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Community Outreach & Legal Training
Direct Representation
Through our Direct Representation program, SJP defends clients' civil rights as guaranteed by federal disability law, increasing access to legal counsel, appropriate educational services, and meaningful reentry. SJP attorneys do this by advocating with students at special education meetings, arguing for better court outcomes in hearings, filing lawsuits, identifying community resources, and directly connecting clients with targeted support services necessary for reentry.
Through this process, young people become informed of their rights and empowered with the tools necessary to later advocate without assistance from attorneys. SJP’s attorneys also partner with defense attorneys to seek alternatives to incarceration for their clients. This work includes meeting with the defense attorneys, submitting sentencing memoranda with education community reentry plans, and seeking sentences under the Youth Rehabilitation Act (YRA).
Systemic Advocacy
SJP’s Systemic Advocacy & Policy program focuses on exposing the structural and legal underpinnings of institutionalized racism that accounts for the gross and pervasive injustices our clients face daily. To combat the structural, political, social, and psychological elements driving these inequities, SJP uses education legal advocacy strategies to dismantle the pipeline funneling youth of color from the juvenile justice system into the criminal system.
SJP attorneys do this by coalition-building, policy drafting, and other high-impact legal strategies. Using what SJP’s clients have identified as key priorities, SJP’s attorneys work with policymakers, schools, community organizations and other key stakeholders to simultaneously increase educational equity and decrease the use of mass incarceration, both of which will contribute to building a more racially just community.
To learn more about SJP’s systemic advocacy, check out our Current Priorities.
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We file lawsuits on behalf of young people involved in the juvenile or criminal legal system.
SJP is counsel on a class action lawsuit about the failure of the District of Columbia to provide special education to students incarcerated at the DC Jail during the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information, click here.
SJP is also working to expand the impact of one of our recent federal court cases involving the failure of the District of Columbia to provide special education to DC residents incarcerated in federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) facilities. For more information, click here.
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Recent successes
Second Look Amendment Act of 2019: Under this bill, young people who were incarcerated for committing a crime while under age 25 now have the opportunity to petition the court for re-sentencing after serving 15 years or more in a prison.
Students in the Care of DC Coordinating Committee: SJP advocated for the passage and funding of the Students in the Care of DC Coordinating Committee Act, which created a standing coordinating committee focused on education for students in the court system.
Current legislative priorities
The Education and Credit Continuity Amendment Act: This legislation, which will be reintroduced Summer 2021 after our cross-sector working group completes revisions to the last iteration, will address the pervasive systemic issue of court-involved students not receiving academic work for the courses they complete as they move between agency placements. The old version is available here. The revised version will likely be introduced in 2022.
Special Education Attorneys for Emerging Adult Defendants Amendment Act of 2021: SJP is working with D.C. Council and D.C. Superior Court to pilot a special education attorney panel where judges can appoint education lawyers to young people in criminal court who otherwise would not have access to enforcing their special education rights. In February 2021, the D.C. Council re-introduced the legislation, which addresses the need for access to free special education legal services by providing free special education attorneys appointed in criminal court. This landmark legislation would be the first of its kind in the country, and it would be something that SJP would hope to assist other jurisdictions with replicating.
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We build coalitions with justice and education partners around criminal justice, juvenile justice, and education issues. SJP is a member of or chairs the following coalitions or collaboratives: Thrive Under 25, Special Education Attorney Roundtable (SEAR), Special Education Advocacy Coalition (SEAC), Every Student Every Day (ESED), Youth Justice Project (YJP), Secondary Transition Community of Practice, DC Legal Services Consortium, DC Legal Aid Transformation Network, DC Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH), DC Reentry Action Network and Fair Budget Coalition. SJP currently chairs or co-chairs the following coalitions or collaboratives.
Thrive Under 25: SJP launched and currently chairs Thrive Under 25, a criminal justice coalition comprised of individuals who have been involved in DC’s justice system, advocates, attorneys, researchers, and policymakers dedicated to addressing issues facing young people under age 25 in DC's adult criminal justice system.
Click to Learn More about Thrive Under 25
Special Education Advocacy Coalition (SEAC): SJP co-chairs this coalition, which includes families of students with disabilities, organizers, advocates, and attorneys, all focused on increasing educational equity for students with disabilities.
Special Education Attorney Roundtable (SEAR): SJP co-chairs this collaborative, a working group of special education attorneys who represent parents and students with disabilities in DC.
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We collaborate with city agencies and youth-serving organizations to identify the barriers and service gaps for older students with special education needs
SJP co-chairs the DC Family Court Education Working Group, Juvenile Justice Subcommittee, which convenes education and justice agencies, judges, court professionals, and nonprofit organizations to improve access to education for court-involved students.
SJP recently served as a member of the newly formed Students in the Care of DC Working Groups: COVID-19 Recovery Working Group & Educational Continuity/Credit Working Group.
SJP serves each year as a member of the DC Family Court Conference Planning Committee, which plans an annual training conference for court practitioners in DC.
Community Outreach & Legal Training
Lastly, our Community Outreach and Legal Training (COLT) Program works to:
1) Educate court professionals (judges, attorneys, probation officers, social workers, agency personnel) on special education in the juvenile and criminal system contexts;
2) Increase access to special education legal counsel for indigent defendants ages 18-22; and
3) Empower students to advocate for themselves. This is done by training attorneys, social workers, juvenile justice agency staff and judges on education rights and how to advance those rights during all stages of a criminal case.