"About a month ago I was summoned to the police for questioning, without knowing what it is about. One of the most stressful things for me was not knowing what was happening and being unprepared. Once I was referred to you, you were kind, reassuring and professional. You prepared me for the questioning and made me feel confident."
A client of the Criminal Justice Clinic
The Criminal Justice Clinic provides legal assistance free of charge to individuals involved in any stage of criminal proceedings, from arrest through indictment, trial, and appeal. Its objective is to combine theory and practice to generate social change, whether by providing representation in individual cases in the various courts or by promoting policy change in core issues of criminal law. Criminal justice procedures have far-reaching implications for individual rights, which are at a great risk of being infringed by the authorities. There is therefore a need for very strong guarantees that such rights are well protected. The Clinic aims to provide quality legal assistance to those without means.
Alongside helping individuals to protect their rights at the criminal process, the Clinic's goals are to arm students – the future generation of lawyers in the public and private sectors – with social sensitivity and an understanding of the nature of representation in the criminal process. Participants undertake a variety of tasks, all of which are carried out under the close supervision of the Clinic’s attorney, including analysis of case materials, meeting with clients, and preparing cases for court. Additionally, the clinic works towards policy change in the area of criminal justice, and conducts projects within the community to raise awareness to criminal law issues and the importance of a just process.
Among the Clinic's recent achievements:
Following requests from the Criminal Justice Clinic and other organizations, lawyers were allowed to enter prisons to visit prisoners during the Covid crisis. Following complaints from inmates to the Clinic that they had been denied legal advice and consultations due to lawyers being prohibited from entering prisons compound, and also in light of concerns about high infection rates among prisoners in high-risk groups, the Clinic requested that the governmental Corona Committee urgently discuss the Israel Prison Service’s conduct in dealing with the pandemic. Meanwhile, other human rights organizations such as the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and the Criminal Clinic of the College of Law and Business in Ramat Gan approached the Knesset. The Committee agreed to the requests and held an urgent discussion with the participation of Clinic representatives. After the hearing, the Israel Prison Service announced that it would allow lawyers to enter the prison compound and also presented an action plan which included capsules for prisoners and guards, quarantining and safe distancing.