Stephanie Ciupka
Host: Lawndale Christian Legal Center
Sponsor: Latham & Watkins LLP
Peter assisted individuals with psychiatric disabilities to remedy the civil collateral consequences of their involvement in the criminal justice system.
The mental health system in Texas is severely under-resourced. People with serious mental illness are almost eight times more likely to end up in state jails than in state psychiatric hospitals. As a result, people with serious mental illness are drastically overrepresented in Texas’s criminal justice system. The consequences of criminal justice involvement go far beyond the criminal case. An arrest can lead to eviction, loss of employment, and termination of public benefits. These civil collateral consequences are especially traumatic for people who receive community-based services and supports. People with mental health conditions deserve civil representation in addition to traditional criminal defense services to remedy the impact of these collateral consequences, avoid homelessness and hospitalization, and prevent recidivism.
During his Fellowship, Peter has:
Now that the Fellowship is complete, Peter plans to continue representing people with mental illness and other disabilities facing civil collateral consequences of criminal justice involvement as a Staff Attorney with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid.
Host: Lawndale Christian Legal Center
Sponsor: Latham & Watkins LLP
Host: American Civil Liberties Union Criminal Law Reform Project and Human Rights Program
Sponsor: Intellectual Ventures, The Ottinger Family Foundation
Host: Rhode Island Legal Services
Host: James B. Moran Center for Youth Advocacy
Sponsor: DLA Piper