Florida Justice Center is a unique organization that is based on the notions that the Public Defender’s Office needs help, marginalized communities receive disparate sentencing, and once people have been arrested they have difficulty rebuilding their lives.
Inspired by the founder’s experience in the justice system, as a police officer and then as a defendant, Florida Justice Center starts a new tradition of social justice in South Florida.
Starting in 2015, founder and Executive Director Jonathan Bleiweiss conducted hundreds of interviews with inmates in the Florida Department of Corrections to determine:
- The causation of their justice involvement and what could have kept them from being arrested;
- The quality of their legal representation;
- If they felt discriminated against or treated differently, and why;
- What would help keep them from future justice involvement.
A pattern soon emerged which led to several clear commonalities: Those that were poor and of color frequently felt as though prison was unavoidable, they were assigned a public defender, most never met with their attorney until the day of trial, many lacked access to behavioral health services, and they all wished someone had provided them with the support necessary to succeed.
Having had his eyes opened to the inequities in the justice system, Jonathan was compelled to open the Florida Justice Center and give clients the chance that others never afforded them. The Florida Justice Center gives them the support that they need to succeed.