The Civil Liberties Defense Center will be hosting several workshops and trainings at this years Public Interest Environmental Law Conference March 4th-6th. Here is a full schedule of CLDC workshops.
Tag Archives | know your rights
Know Your Rights (Arabic)
CLDC stands in solidarity with targeted people and communities by assisting them with protecting their Constitutional rights through any legal avenue feasible (federal or state recourse), providing KYR trainings to those communities as requested, and by sharing a KYR resource that has been translated into Arabic by the National Lawyers Guild (NLG).
We encourage Muslim communities (particularly in the Northwest) to contact us for legal support and education. Please join us in ensuring the rights of all people are respected, particularly in times of political hysteria, fear and ignorance by sharing this training.
Download the NLG Know Your Rights training in Arabic.
Know Your Rights resources available in Arabic
With the increasingly abusive Islamophobic response that has been coming from ignorant individuals within the United States, the CLDC will continue to stand strongly with our Muslim and/or Middle Eastern community members.
Know Your Rights for Unhoused
We are currently updating, more information coming soon.
Please stop back by this page in the future, we will be adding a Know Your Rights for Unhoused training video and more information soon.
Resources:
Policing the Police: Your Right to Record Law Enforcement
In light of the shortcomings of the legal system and growing police violence against people, there are many ways that communities can help each other to defend their rights to be free from unlawful searches, seizures, and cruel and inhumane treatment by law enforcement officers.
Outreach Materials
Look through these LINKS to find materials that you may need:
Basic Know Your Rights Information
Know Your Rights Brochure (English)
Know Your Rights Brochure (Spanish)
Other Know Your Rights Information
Immigrant PowerPoint (English)
Immigrant PowerPoint (Spanish)
Immigrant Teen PowerPoint (English)
Transdermal & Subdermal Piercings
Resources Created by the CLDC
American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)
Copyright and Trademark Information – Using Corporate Logos
Grand Juries are an Abuse of Power
Videotaping Police During Political Demonstrations
Other Resources
Abolish the AETA!
Blueprint for Inclusive Health Care for Transgender Workers
Guide to Corresponding with Prisoners
Tasers and the Police (English)
Tasers and the Police (Spanish)
Transgender Direct Action Guide
Your Right to Demonstrate & Protest
Trainings and Workshops
We strive to educate the public, and particularly communities of color or other higher risk and vulnerable communities, by conducting “know your rights (KYR)” trainings throughout the country. Each workshop is tailored to the needs of the particular group of participants.
Public Speaking
CLDC’s Executive Director, Lauren Regan, conducts speaking tours throughout the year on a variety of educational topics including: the USA PATRIOT Act, the Military Commissions Act, the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, grand jury procedures, the Freedom of Information Act, and other threats to our civil liberties. The CLDC focuses on challenging and changing these statutes when they are used to censor or eliminate the rights of citizens engaged on political expression.
Ms. Regan has appeared numerous times on the national Democracy Now! program and is frequently quoted in over 250 national and local media outlets including Rolling Stone, the Guardian of London, the New York Times, and many more.
At the invitation of the National Lawyers Guild, Ms. Regan spoke in New York about “Green Scare” prosecutions; spoke at Yale University’s “Rebellious Lawyering Conference,” and recently the University of California Los Angeles Law School invited her to speak on the history of COINTELPRO, government repression, and activism.
Other Public Speaking Topics Include:
- The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act: The Law, Current Case Updates, and How to Save Animals in the Face of Government Repression.
- Navigating the Criminal Courts: A Guide for Activists and Lawyers.
- Women in Environmental Law: We’ve Come a Long Way Baby, But Are We Going Anywhere?
The CLDC offers these presentations to universities, civic groups, conferences, social change and environmental activists, conservatives, and religious groups.
To schedule a presentation, please contact us!
Grand Juries
Dealing with Grand Juries
In light of most recent events, Activists need to know how to protect themselves. Here you will find a list of helpful materials surrounding Grand Juries. Please contact us if there is something more that you would like to see on this page.
Grand Jury tools:
- Slideshow
- Trainer’s Script
- Background
- FAQ
- Fact Sheet
- Model GJ Charge
- Summons GJ Service
- Handbook for Fed GJurors
- Fed Court Cover Letter
- Empanel Order of Court
The public is entitled to limited information about any current grand jury. To obtain that information, you need to send a public records request to the Clerk of the Court for the federal court where the grand jury is taking place. Below please find a template for the information that is normally provided by the Courts. This information will provide you with (1) the date the grand jury began (empaneled) so that you can determine when the grand jury period will expire (unless extended); (2) how often the grand jury is scheduled to meet; (3) whether it is a regular or special grand jury; (4) whether there are any special jury instructions the Court provided to the grand jury to use while determining whether an indictment should issue.
Dear Clerk of the Court:
I am requesting public information regarding the current empaneled federal grand jury in the [Western Washington District.] Specifically, I would like the Court Order directing empanelment of the grand jury, the letter to prospective grand jurors, and any special jury instructions issued by the Judge.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. Time is of the essence, and thus I would appreciate this information as soon as possible.
Thank you very much for your time,
(your name here)
Know Your Rights
Our Know Your Rights (KYR) training is our most regular and widely held educational event. Each workshop is tailored to the needs of the particular group of participants. When working with forest activists, we include updated information regarding recent laws and prosecutions related to that movement. With immigration reform groups, we focus on the rights of non-documented people and their families. When working with LGBTQ groups, we focus on issues specific to their needs. Due to an increase in the criminalization of youth, CLDC has developed trainings specifically geared toward juveniles in an attempt to curb the abuses taking place between police and youth.
The purpose of KYR workshops is to instill activists with the confidence to make decisions about how they will engage their activism—where is the line drawn between legal and potentially illegal protesting? What “magic words” should you say to police to invoke your rights? Armed with knowledge, activists and others can make informed choices regarding their interactions with government agents and can best protect their rights should they end up in handcuffs and in the legal system.
All of our KYR trainings have an accompanying PowerPoint presentation we provide to participants who want it to share the information with their community. We allow our organizational hosts to also record the trainings so they can share the information with community members unable to attend.
CLDC workshops include trainers’ trainings, specifically geared toward enabling participants to bring complex legal information back to their communities effectively and accurately with the knowledge that they have our support and resources readied at their side. In addition, we prioritize mentoring future lawyers and legal workers, and by offering trainers trainings, we are ensuring that we duplicate our efforts and spread this knowledge faster and wider than we could ever do on our own.
Resources:
Know Your Rights Brochure (English)
Know Your Rights Brochure (Spanish)
Know Your Rights for Youth
We are currently updating, more information coming soon.
Please stop back by this page in the future, we will be adding a Know Your Rights for Youth training video and more information soon.
Resources:
Know Your Rights – Teen Brochure
Know Your Rights- Teen PowerPoint
Know Your Rights – Immigrant Teen PowerPoint (English)