#OccupyLA: Take 'Free Speech' Class After Arrests for Exercising Freedom of Speech
[Alanis Morissette: "Ironic"]
Occupy LA protesters who have been arrested are being offered a deal that would allow them to avoid court trials. For $355, protesters can pay a private company for lessons in free speech. American Justice Associates offers the educational program taught by an attorney - Neil G. Anderson - a former police officer and Supervising Deputy District Attorney for Sacramento County, and his partner attorney Deborah Bryce McKinley of Atlanta, GA.
Via:
Los Angeles Chief Deputy City Atty. William Carter said the city won't press charges against protesters who complete the educational program offered by American Justice Associates.
He said the program, which may include lectures by attorneys and retired judges, is being offered to people with no other criminal history and who were arrested on low-level misdemeanor offenses, such as failure to disperse.
...
Carter said the free-speech class will save the city money and teach protesters the nuances of the law."The 1st Amendment is not absolute," he said, noting that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled government can regulate when, where and how free speech can be exercised.
American Justice Associates, and it’s founders include Neil G. Anderson, previously a police officer and Supervising Deputy District Attorney for Sacramento County, and Deborah Bryce McKinley, a lawyer currently based in Atlanta, Georgia. Anderson, who lives in Newcastle, is currently listed as “inactive” by the State Bar of California and therefore ineligible to practice law in the state. McKinley is currently licensed to practice in the state.
In a 1997 interview, Anderson told the Los Angeles Times that "We run defendants through a comprehensive approach to keeping a job and maintaining self-esteem, so we don't have to see them back here again."
The majority of Occupy LA protesters, those who were arrested the night of the LAPD's eviction of the encampment, were already held for at least two days with a bail of at least $5,000.
A civil rights attorney who has worked with the protesters called the free speech class "patronizing," and said the demonstrators who were arrested are the last people needing free-speech training.
"There they were exercising their 1st Amendment, their lawful right to protest nonviolently," said attorney Cynthia Anderson-Barker.
[Hat tip to Alternet]
.. classes in Free Speech and Freedom to Assemble ..
.. as part of a settlement of a Class Action Suit against LAPD for their egregious behavior ..
HA!
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
Your sig is wrong. The Democrats do not represent the Middle Class; haven't since the late 1960's.
$355 for one word- "Don't."
I'm so sick of these private companies getting funneled through government agencies.
Fuck. Them.
Am I doing that free speech thing right?
People who don't understand the concept of free speech trying to tell others what free speech is? I'd exercise my right to free speech by telling them to shove their class up their asses so that their brains won't be lonely.
"Whatever your particular problem is, I promise you, the Republicans are not the least bit interested in solving it. They are interested in two things, and two things only: making you afraid of it, and telling you who's to blame for it."
And, how much of a kick-back is Los Angeles Chief Deputy City Atty. William Carter and his cohorts getting?
The OWS'ers forgot their three cornered hats and their side arms!
THEN they wouldn't have been arrested!
Amazing!
Give private companies the chance to make bucks off of the backs of people in lieu of jail time. Been through several of these over the years, and personally, none of them have ever stopped me from drinking/using. All one does is learn how to jump through the hoops and work around the scheduling. Always feel like I'm being treated like a goddamn child.
And a class for exercising one's free speech reaches a new low. Are people still in custody? At this point, my advice would be to just do the balance of time and ask your lawyer to waive all probation.
Fucking insane.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
First it's private prisons for profit, now it's Free Speech classes, also for profit. All of it tied in with our "Justice" system. How much do the judges and prosecutors get in kickbacks on this deal? The defendants should all reject this "bargain" and let the city eat the costs.
I'd pitch into a fund to pay for the "lessons" for some Occupiers, just so they could school the teachers.
That's the first word that comes to mind.
"Someday somebody related to some of these sufferers, these victims, these collaterally damaged souls, may try to kill you. And I have to tell you, I think you’ll have it coming." - Christopher Cooper
do you mean corporations? ...or the politicians that work for them?
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
plead guilty,
pay $355 ,
waste 5 hrs in a "free speech class"
...and give up your right to a fair trial by jury.
(definitely not a bargain IMHO)
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
Sooner of later folks will see that 1st amendment rights were violated on mass, and a class action suite could drain the city and fill the coffers of an organized OccupyLA.
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/civil...
This is a craven attempt to scare them into admitting guilt to nullify this option.
The Oakland PD is offering classes in tear gas canister catching and rubber bullet dodging.
An unnamed but high level source said recently: "There would be a lot less violence if these Occupy people would stop walking into our projectiles".
Talk about turning reality on its head. This is downright Orwellian.
I don't believe in God. Teach a man to be a good citizen and you have solved the problem of life.
-Andrew Carnegie
for profit "free speech" class is such an awesome new spin on "re-education camp."
I can't wait to see what fantastic new name they come up for "mid crime."
CTHULHU 2012 "Why vote for a lesser evil?"
Re-education camp. That's exactly what this is. Oh man, the end is neigh.
I don't believe in God. Teach a man to be a good citizen and you have solved the problem of life.
-Andrew Carnegie
Sure is . I wonder how long it will be before this country just implodes ?
"The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all."
sounds like a crony steering big business to another crony. And using the justice system to do so. So a guy the judge plays golf with came up with an idea to make himself big money, and the judge said something like "sure, I'll steer them your way. Better, I'll make it an 'either/or' choice. Either pay my pal $355 Or go to court, then jail and pay a fine."
This cheats the city out of much-needed revenue that could come from legally-imposed fines.
Is the DOJ still hanging out in LA, or do they need to return?
The people who need the free speech lessons are the police and govt, and they can do that for free, since they have a copy of the 1st amendment laying around somewhere.
me-oww!
for the sack lunches served when you're booked into Twin Towers.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
Don't think of them as free-speech classes. Think of them as re-education camps.
It's admitting you were guilty of exercising a Right(an oxymoron), and conceding that the government has the power to punish you for exercising that Right. How's that Shining City on a hill going?
having the right to carry a firearm into a bar is a sacred Right and a perfectly swell idea.
would it be possible to bring some recording equipment into these classes? I'd like to see just how and what these 'instructors' teach; how many uniformed officers they'd have on the room or looking over the prisoners' shoulders; and what the repercussions for asking viable questions or expressing dissenting opinion is. If they're going to brainwash people like North Korea does, it would be good to get it on tape.
The protesters have to take a class in free speech rights? Shouldn't the people arresting them be the ones taking the class?
coming through, once again, to save us from ourselves. And just like a benevolent deity, it is willing to forgive our transgressions with just a small act of profit-friendly contrition.
Where are our friendly neo-liberals at? They should be creaming their pants all over this...
CTHULHU 2012 "Why vote for a lesser evil?"
C'mon people. Anyone with even half an ounce of brain matter knows that the only thing that's ironic about Alanis Morrisette's song "Ironic" is that she has no idea what "Irony" is.
It's called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.
-George Carlin
;-)
CTHULHU 2012 "Why vote for a lesser evil?"
even more ironic is that her other three twin sisters apparently never performed with her again ...
(no wait, thats moronic ...)
I'm Boycotting NewsCorp! Heres what not to buy: http://www.cjr.org/resources/index.php?c=news...
only came in two.
CTHULHU 2012 "Why vote for a lesser evil?"
Regarding twins coming in twos .... I will always defer to Mr Lahey
I'm Boycotting NewsCorp! Heres what not to buy: http://www.cjr.org/resources/index.php?c=news...
Odd that the option the protesters get is to let the court system may money off their protest of income inequality.
Someone is basically profitting from them getting arrested, pay their being forced to pay someone to "each them"
and mic check the "instructors".
Every time a liberal or progressive makes a prison rape joke or speaks about "justice" you help enable the police state.
/carry on
They can shove their free speech classes up their arses.
far left loon >.<
They should make a counter offer to the judge, if you drop the charges, we won't demand a jury trial. Think how much all those jury trials will cost the city, plus really jam the court system. IMO, it just might get their attention that people have the right to protest.
authoritarian condescension from arrogant conservative asswipes.
I recommend the OWS protestors decline or refuse the ridiculous offer and go to trial.
Religion will be the downfall of Humanity.
Privatizating the criminal justice system continues and the only result is that these "privatizers" suck money out of an already financially embattled govrernment. I would bet my own dog that the "privatization" company has given money to the DA running this scam of justice.
look at how many respond to this and how many even respond to the union iron workers trying to get hired for jobs in their own city.
the GPS coordinates to your point?
CTHULHU 2012 "Why vote for a lesser evil?"
Lemme guess ...the classes will be held in a "Free Speech Zone" ...
George Orwell: Creator of Quotey Fingers Before They Were Known As Quotey Fingers
I'm Boycotting NewsCorp! Heres what not to buy: http://www.cjr.org/resources/index.php?c=news...
private for profit business instead of to the city's coffers?
Is that legal?
Sounds like some unethical good old boyism going on.
Orwell would be proud.
NOBODY 2012
Comments are closed on this entry