Know your rights.
Enforce your rights.
First Defense Legal Aid works to connect, educate, and defend over-policed community members throughout Chicago and Illinois.
First Defense Legal Aid mobilizes lawyers and over-policed community members to fill gaps in public defense
and create, protect, and engage replicable alternatives to the criminal system starting with its entry points.
For 24/7/365 connections to community and legal resources, as well as representation by the public defenders within the first 48 hours of arrest , call all our Help Not Jail Hotline at 1-800-LAWREP4 (1-800-529-7374).
100%
of Chicagoans have the constitutional right to an attorney while in police custody.
Yet only
1.67%
of arrestees had a lawyer present while in Chicago Police custody in 2018.
Not to mention
80%
of Mirandized arrestees waive their Miranda rights after being arrested.
If everyone in Cook County had access to an attorney within 24 hours of arrest
$13M
dollars would be saved annually.
What the community has to say…
“I got stopped by my house and invoked my rights. I said I do not consent to searches. They searched me anyways and found a mountain of First Defense cards. They let me go.”
— Miguel Rodriguez
Artist Educator and Restorative Justice Advocate
“Arrests happen too often and most can usually be avoided. People in unfortunate situations just need to be understood and given the right resources. With the right people and resources, the revolving door begins to close. Opportunities for the betterment of our city become the solution to mass incarceration.”
— David Alvarez
A long time supporter, colleague, and friend of FDLA being involved since utilizing the hotline for himself in 1997. Afterwards dedicating himself to FDLA’s mission, helping out the community with our resources, and eventually now being a Hotline Answerer himself.
"It's life changing. I've been through a lot with this, and having this team was a great relief. Now I can go everywhere I want to go and I'm thankful. Hopefully it will prevent others from going through what I went through."
– Darren Cole
A Chicagoan, who was wrongfully detained 60 times in 15 years by CPD on a warrant bearing another man's name before attorneys from FDLA's Civil Rights Legal Aid Program and co-counsel at Northwestern Law's Community Justice and Civil Rights Clinic forced the city to notify every officer in the police department at roll call and on their in-car computers to not detain Mr. Cole on this mistaken warrant.
“I was detained by Chicago police at least 18 times since 2017. I made repeated complaints to the Civilian Office of Police Accountability during this time period without seeing the misconduct stop.
During these stops by CPD, I was detained while walking, My vehicle was illegally searched several times, I was illegally arrested, and during a stop in 2021 the officers wrongfully seized my valid, ISP-issued FOID card.
Sounds like a nightmare? It was! Until FDLA's Civil Rights Clinic stepped into action to create the needed dialogue with the City of Chicago, via a constitutional lawsuit, I didn't know how to begin to fully resolve these issues.
FDLA's Civil Rights Clinic helped provide the additional resources to give me a platform to seek accountability and justice. At FDLA, they're really invested in helping the community; it was such a pleasure working with them.