Our Vision

It all begins with the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees everyone the right to be represented by counsel in a court of law, the right to have an attorney; not just someone there in name only, but an attorney who will defend vigorously.  If you can’t guarantee that, then you don’t have a democratic society.  In a market-based society, the reality of ‘you get what you pay for’ clashes with the ideal of equal justice under the law.  In order to qualify as a truly democratic society, we must be able to say that everybody is equal in the eyes of the law.
-- former Executive Director Keith Ellison

The Legal Rights Center has a vision for the future of criminal justice in Minnesota in which all defendants are treated equally and impartially, and in which an inner-city defendant, or a poor defendant, or a minority defendant, or a recently immigrated defendant will receive the same justice as that given to a white, upper middle-class defendant from the suburbs.

The Legal Rights Center must also focus on the need to address the contexts of crimes and find solutions to the life-style and social barriers that often put individuals at grave risk of initial involvement and of re-involvement with the justice system.

Our vision is:

• To provide the vigorous public advocacy and criminal defense which since 1970 has made the LRC the place to turn for people of color and those without financial means, especially when constitutional rights stand in jeopardy. As much as ever before, residents of poorer neighborhoods and people of color are arrested without legitimate "probable cause," and brought to jail where they languish without bail, awaiting their rightful day in court. Until the scales of justice are balanced for all people regardless of color or economic condition, the Legal Rights Center stands ready and willing to go to trial to assure the principle that a defendant is presumed "innocent until proven guilty."
• To be a cutting-edge restorative justice center helping individuals and communities take pride in themselves and their abilities to handle their own social, economic and political problems.  The retributive American justice system often leaves everyone involved lacking the information, time and attention they need to understand why and how the offense occurred.  We will improve communication pathways between victims and offenders so that all parties may understand and cope with the consequences of an offense.  In addition, the resources and services we provide will help bring closure to all those effected and will build stronger, more caring communities of trust and compassion.
• To make sense out of the law for at-risk youth and new immigrant communities by providing culturally-specific "Street Law" education for alternative school students and new immigrant communities. "The Law" to many youth is not the codification of community values and mores; they see it as an instrument of the dominant society's oppression of the different and the less powerful. To new immigrants, "the law" and the U.S. legal system are a confusing maze. "Street Law" for these youth and new immigrants goes to the basics – Legal Rights Center attorneys and Community Advocates address areas in which a given population is most often at risk, and assist participants to understand the reasoning behind the law.