Civil Rights and Wrongs for September 28, 2021

Michelle Manning-Scott guest hosts the program on Tuesday and speaks with Anna Harris, founder and executive director of JUST-US Participatory Defense, a non-profit organization that offers criminal defense assistance to indigent defendants in several rural counties in south and central Texas. The participatory defense model stems from a reform minded approach to public defense that is grounded in community participation. The movement has been gaining traction here in the US for more than a decade and aims to revolutionize the judicial system toward a more equitable, efficient and empowered method of representation for marginalized and economically disadvantaged populations.

And Austin Sanders, Staff Writer at the Austin Chronicle, discusses the appointment of Joseph Chacon as Chief of Police for APD.  Austin also reports on the September 20th meeting of the Public Safety Committee of the City Council.  Of the hundreds of complaints stemming from the 2020 BLM protests which were filed with the Office of Police Oversight, only a few dozen have been investigated by APD.