Alec Karakatsanis Explained

Alec Karakatsanis
Birth Date:7 November 1983
Birth Place:Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.

Alec Karakatsanis (born November 7, 1983) is an American civil rights lawyer, social justice advocate, co-founder of Equal Justice Under Law, and founder and Executive Director of Civil Rights Corps, a Washington D.C. impact litigation nonprofit. Karakatsanis' recent work has targeted the American monetary bail system.[1] He also opposes copaganda.[2]

In 2016, Karakatsanis was awarded the Stephen B. Bright Award by Gideon's Promise[3] and the Trial Lawyer of the Year Award by Public Justice.[4] In explaining their rationale, Public Justice declared Karakatsanis to be "setting the precedent for a new era of criminal justice reform in the age of mass incarceration."[5]

Education and career

Karakatsanis graduated from Yale College in 2005 with a degree in Ethics, Politics, & Economics. He enrolled immediately at Harvard Law School, where he was a Supreme Court Chair of the Harvard Law Review, and graduated with a J.D. in 2008.[6] After law school, Karakatsanis worked as a federal public defender in Alabama and then in the Special Litigation Division of the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia for several years. Karakatsanis founded Equal Justice Under Law with fellow Harvard Law School classmate Phil Telfeyan in 2014, but later split to found Civil Rights Corps in 2016.[7] Numerous U.S. media outlets have featured Karakatsanis' work, including The New Yorker,[8] Huffington Post,[9] The Washington Post,[10] The Marshall Project,[11] and The New York Times.[12]

In August 2016, Karakatsanis challenged the use of money bail in Harris County, Texas, in a federal lawsuit supported by the sheriff of Houston.[13] Controversy arose when the attorney representing Harris County argued that "some people want to be in jail".[14] A year earlier, in July 2016, Civil Rights Corps (along with ArchCity Defenders, the St. Louis public defense agency) received a landmark settlement when the city of Jennings, Missouri agreed to pay $4.7 million to 2,000 people incarcerated in its jail for inability to pay traffic fines and other minor fees.[15]

Selected publications

Awards

References

  1. Web site: Zuckerman . Michael . 2017-08-15 . Criminal Injustice . 2022-10-24 . Harvard Magazine . en.
  2. Web site: Rampell . Ed . 2022-10-21 . Seeing through the Copaganda . 2022-10-25 . Progressive.org . en-us.
  3. Web site: Taylor . Bryan . 16 March 2017 . UP Incubator: Alec Karakatsanis . Pretrial Justice Institute . university.pretrial.org . en . https://web.archive.org/web/20170424090034/https://university.pretrial.org/worldwidepretrialinnovators/viewdocument/up-incubator-alec-karakatsanis . 2017-04-24 . unfit.
  4. News: Trial Lawyer of the Year Award . Public Justice . 2017-04-24 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170424085507/https://www.publicjustice.net/trial-lawyer-year-award/ . unfit . en-US.
  5. News: Public Justice Announces Finalists for 2016 Trial Lawyer of the Year Award . 2016-06-08 . Public Justice . 2017-04-23 . en-US.
  6. Web site: Alec Karakatsanis, Co-Founder, Equal Justice Under Law . Program in Law and Public Affairs, Princeton University . en . 2017-04-23.
  7. News: McArdle . Elaine . November 24, 2014 . Fighting Unequal Justice - Harvard Law Today . Harvard Law Today . 2017-04-23.
  8. Web site: Eric . Markowitz . August 11, 2016 . The Link Between Money and Aggressive Policing . The New Yorker . 2017-04-23 . limited.
  9. News: 'People Who Work In The System Become Desensitized To How Brutal It Is To Cage Someone' . Reilly . Ryan J. . 2016-08-26 . Huffington Post . 2017-04-23 . en-US.
  10. News: The District police's unreasonable searches and seizures . Editorial Board . 2016-03-08 . The Washington Post . 2017-04-23 . en-US . 0190-8286 . limited.
  11. Web site: Santo . Alysia . How to Fight Modern-Day Debtors' Prisons? Sue the Courts. . 2015-10-01 . The Marshall Project . 2017-04-23.
  12. News: Court by Court, Lawyers Fight Policies That Fall Heavily on the Poor . Dewan . Shaila . 2015-10-23 . The New York Times . 2017-04-23 . 0362-4331 . limited.
  13. Web site: First Amended Class Action Complaint . United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas . Maranda Lynn Odonnell, Loetha McGruder, Robert Ryan Ford v. Harris County, Texas at al. . Case No. 16-cv-01414; Document 51-1 . August 31, 2016 . 2018-04-12 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180412150118/https://static1.squarespace.com/static/57fd58f937c581b957965f8e/t/5aaac70a575d1fabe2c713d5/1521141514944/Doc.+51-1+2016-08-31+ODonnell+dkt+51-1+1st+Amd+Class+Action+Complaint+.pdf . dead . Squarespace.com.
  14. News: Claiming Some People 'Want to Be in Jail,' County Loses Argument to Delay Bail Lawsuit . Flynn . Meagan . 2017-02-09 . Houston Press . 2021-06-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210613193417/http://www.houstonpress.com/news/claiming-some-people-want-to-be-in-jail-county-loses-argument-to-delay-bail-lawsuit-9184266 . dead.
  15. News: Missouri City to Pay $4.7 Million to Settle Suit Over Jailing Practices . Robertson . Campbell . 2016-07-15 . The New York Times . 2017-04-23 . 0362-4331 . limited.
  16. Web site: Alec Karakatsanis, 2016 Emerging Leader Award . Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh . en-US . https://web.archive.org/web/20170424174048/http://www.gspia.pitt.edu/About-GSPIA/Digital-Media-Center/News/View-Article/ArticleID/1917/Alec-Karakatsanis-2016-Emerging-Leader-Award . 2017-04-24 . dead.

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