About Community Defense

What is Community Defense?

Community defense is both an ideology and a practice. Community defenders seek collaboration with neighboring community members, community groups and local social service providers, rather than simply waiting for clients to appear alongside them in court. The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law defines community defense:

"First, community defenders recognize that an individuals initial contact with the criminal justice system offers a rare moment in which to address many of the individual’s most salient needs, including those that lie outside the immediate realm of the legal system. Yet, such advocacy is seldom strictly extralegal, for it is often through their established contacts with community groups and service providers that defenders are able to most significantly improve their client’s case outcomes – often through diversion, sentence mitigation, and the avoidance of civil sanctions – and reduce the burden of overwhelming caseloads and needlessly large court dockets.

Second, community defenders advocate on behalf of their clients as a community or collective constituency rather than as a mere collection of individual cases. Through various kinds of advocacy and systemic reform efforts, they attempt to improve the social standing of the communities from which many of their clients come, and to which many eventually return."

In December 2006, the Brennan Center for Justice published its report, “The Case for Community Defense” in New Orleans. The report laid out 6 broad recommendations:

  1. Reinvent Defender Culture

  2. Reach Out To Client Communities

  1. Investigate Police Misconduct and Help Clients Avoid Negative Police Interaction

  1. Make Contacts with Social Service Providers and, Where Appropriate, Divert Clients at First Appearance

  1. Improve Communication with Clients

  1. Facilitate Client Reentry at Front and Back Ends of the Criminal Justice Process

The Louisiana Justice Coalition adopted these 6 broad recommendations into its Community Defense Project in Caddo Parish. Through outreach, training, and direct service, LJC is achieving these recommendations by providing the support and resources that public defenders need and creating a sustained culture change in the Caddo Parish Public Defender Office.

The Brennan Center for Justice sponsors a Community Oriented Defender (COD) Network to promote the sharing of information, resources and initiatives across community oriented agencies. More than 40 agencies from 17 states belong to the COD Network. Louisiana member-agencies are the Louisiana Justice Coalition, Calcasieu Public Defender Office and Orleans Public Defenders.

View full list of Community Oriented Defender Network members