PARTICIPATORY DEFENSE TRAININGS
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we want to protect our people by prioritizing the health
and well-being of our communities. We will be postponing scheduled in-person trainings until
further notice. We will still take requests for future in-person trainings and will provide updates
for when we will resume in person trainings. Thank you and be safe!
TRAININGS FOR ORGANIZATIONS
Are you a community or youth organization, faith organization, support group, union, or grassroots community organizing group with members who might be facing criminal charges in the courts? Do you want to learn how to provide meaningful and impactful support for those loved ones to impact the outcomes of their cases?
Silicon Valley De-Bug offers various types of trainings to organizations nationwide:
INTRODUCTION TO PARTICIPATORY DEFENSE
This session is geared for community organizations who have constituencies who may come into contact with the criminal justice system and just need the tools to be able to support those families effectively when the moment calls. This session runs for about 2 hours, explains the criminal justice system and identifies points of intervention, as well as specific tools that staff and/or key leaders can walk away with to build their capacity to support their constituencies.
(Online and in-person training options available.)
PARTICIPATORY DEFENSE TRAINING SERIES
These sessions are for organizations who want to implement a regular space or structure in their organization/ group to support their local community with cases in the criminal and/or juvenile justice systems in a consistent and sustained way. This runs for approximately 2 days that covers the points of intervention to impact the criminal justice system, meeting infrastructure, defense preparation tools, and campaign development.
TRAININGS FOR DEFENSE ATTORNEYS AND DEFENSE TEAMS
COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC DEFENDER PARTNERSHIPS THROUGH PARTICIPATORY DEFENSE
Developed by families in San Jose, CA, participatory defense is a community organizing framework that activates the individual facing charges, their families, and communities to impact the outcomes of cases and transform the landscape of power in the court system. In cities across the country, families are assisting lawyers in gathering material for both mitigation and defense, and showing up for their loved ones in courts. As they begin to see the
holes of the system, they also organize to change systemic policies and practices.
We lead introductory sessions on participatory defense to defense attorneys, discussing the origins, principles, and workings of participatory defense. Using case examples, we show how families, communities, and defenders collaborated to impact the outcomes of cases, and discuss ways defenders can improve and build on relationships with their client communities. The training will also cover how community and defender partnerships can lead to systemic changes in the courts.
SOCIAL BIOGRAPHY VIDEO AND PACKETS TRAININGS
De-Bug produces social biography videos and gives trainings to public defender offices and participatory defense hubs on how to create social biography videos to humanize people for purposes of impacting sentencing, plea-negotiations, and more. These trainings range from introductory sessions on our methods of producing these videos to all-day and two-day trainings where participants learn all phases of production.
QUESTIONS OR FOR MORE INFORMATION..
Please contact Sarait Escorza, Training Coordinator, at sarait@siliconvalleydebug.org or call her at (408)971-4965.