Box 15, Folder 11, Document 59

Dublin Core

Title

Box 15, Folder 11, Document 59

Text Item Type Metadata

Text

OFFICE OF ECONOMIC vee es ee
aN ‘) a \ins=\ WASHINGTON, D.c. 20506
JPG I | | 7

OPPORTU

- FOR RELEASE: AMs
MONDAY, MARCH 4, 1968

Telephone: 296-2980



LEGAL SERVICES SHOULD BE MAIN VEHICLE FOR REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES OF
POOR; ADVISORY GROUP SAYS



An advisory group of 24 directors of OEO-funded ‘Legal Services Programs
(LSP) across the country has recommended that the President establish
as a national policy that LSP projects are "a primary organ" for aiding
poor people to express and obtain redress of their grievances.

The committee also recommended that Legal Services projects be involved
in all national and local planning aimed at avoiding civil disturbances
or at minimizing the scope and duration of such disturbances if they
occur,

The Project Advisory Group, of the Legal Services Program also recommended
the establishment of a national task force composed of Legal Services
lawyers who have had experience in the slum communities during civil
disorders to consult with elected officials, law enforcement officials,
members of the judiciary, LSP directors and bar associations in urban
communities on ways to prevent disturbances and to minimize their

effects if they occur.

The new advisory group drafted the recommendations as a result of its
discussions March 1 about what Legal Services projects could do to
prevent or to calm civil disorders. The group met with officials of
the OEO Legal Services Program. (A copy of the recommendations is
attached.)

The subcommittee that drafted the recommendations was chaired by
Oliver Lofton, director of the Newark Legal Services Project, and
included directors of LSPs in Detroit, Cleveland, Miami, Los Angeles
and Dallas.

The relevance of the work of Legal Services Programs in the prevention
and the calming of civil disorders is discussed on Page 1022, Chapter 10,
of the report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders,

Some 250 local Legal Services projects in 48 states, and in 45 of the
50 largest cities, provide counsel and representation in civil matters
to poor clients and to groups of poor people seeking to obtain their
rights and redress of their grievances. Legal Services Projects
played an important role in preventing and calming disorders last
summer.

- 30 - 68-22
Attachment
a)3 &

Insuring Basic Rights - That as a part of any program for



insuring the maintenance of basic legal rights in the event
that a civil disturbance does occur, Legal Services Programs
. should, with other members of the local community, take the
initiative for developing plans for:

(a) the maximum use of the release on recognizance pro-
cedure rather than the posting of money bail and
particularly in the case of curfew violations;

(b) assuring that arrested persons are promptly admitted
to reasonable bail;

(c) assuring that arrested persons have legal counsel at
the earliest possible moment;

(d) assuring that bail will not be used for purposes of

containment, but solely to insure that an arrestee
will appear at the time of trial.

- 30 -

Comments

Document Viewer