Courageous Convictions

In 2017, our Founder was licensed to practice law under direct attorney supervision as an extern at the Cook County Public Defender’s Office at the Felony Trial Division at the 26th and California courthouse. In the time she was there, she noticed a trend once someone received their first felony, many people started coming back. Systemically, we were setting people up for failure, making it difficult for people to find employment or receive government aid with a background, and she noticed if people were unemployed or did not have a purpose, despite having been bonded or released on one charge, they were still likely to come back in with a second charge. Once the clients were in the system, typically they were watched or targeted by the police/system. However, those who successfully made it out of the system, and were ultimately the happiest, were those people who found employment. Moreover, the statistics show that the greatest defense to recidivism is employment!