San Francisco Public Defender

2007

• The Office successfully opposed the inclusion of three non-gang members in two civil injunctions filed against San Francisco gangs.
• The Office opened its 5th Clean Slate Program satellite office, helping English and Spanish speaking San Francisco residents clear their criminal records.
• Public Defender Adachi received the 2007 California Lawyer of the Year Award.
• Over 375 activists, educators and lawmakers convened at the Safe Communities Reentry Council 2nd Annual Reentry Summit at San Francisco State University to discuss improvement of services for formerly incarcerated individuals.

2006

• The Office receives the American Bar Association’s 2006 Dorsey Award, given to a public defense office that has demonstrated exceptional work and an outstanding commitment to justice.
• The Clean Slate Program opens in a fourth neighborhood – the Mission District – and helps 2,400 rehabilitated persons clear their criminal records.
• Reentry Unit, comprised of social workers, is established to help former prisoners obtain housing, mental health, education and employment services.
• Over 2,000 backpacks filled with supplies are distributed to children and youth in Bayview-Hunter’s Point in a giveaway hosted by BMAGIC.
• MoMAGIC program is introduced to the Western Addition.

 2005

• The Office receives two Bar Association of San Francisco awards for achievements in gender and ethnic diversity.
• Research unit files a writ in the California Supreme Court challenging the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s policy denying juvenile parolees the right to an attorney at parole revocation hearings.
• The Clean Slate Program is awarded the Mayor’s Fiscal Advisory Committee’s Public Managerial Excellence Team Award.
• The Clean Slate Program opens two new satellite locations in Visitacion Valley and in the Western Addition/Fillmore community.

  2004 

• With the Zellerbach Family Foundation’s support, the office establishes the first “Children of Incarcerated Parents” program, to help minor children of a jailed parent access support services and assistance.
• The Office calls for a city-wide moratorium against sentencing juveniles to the CYA. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution supporting the moratorium, and 11 counties followed San Francisco’s lead.
• The Clean Slate Program joins with Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Project Homeless Connect to provide expungement services for the homeless and others in need.
• The Office launches “MAGIC”(Mobilization for Adolescent Growth in our Communities), aimed at providing positive opportunities for youth to keep them from entering the juvenile justice system.
• The Office holds its first Juvenile Justice Summit at the Civic Center Main Library. Entitled “Raising Up Our Youth: Building Safer Communities,” the one-day summit brings 200 youth, parents and youth advocates together to discuss the difficult issues confronting young people in the juvenile justice system.