Page 109 - ACTL Journal_Sum24

In addition to funding the College’s annual $150,000 Gumpert Award, the Foundation considers other Gumpert finalists for possible grants. This year, the Foundation concluded that one of those finalists, the Second Look Project in Washington, D.C., warranted an award. Second Look was founded in 2020 to provide legal assistance to individuals who had received lengthy sentences for offenses committed at or before age twenty-four and who had already served at least fifteen years. Under legislation enacted by the D.C. City Council, individuals satisfying those conditions are entitled to a hearing focused on whether they have demonstrated reha-
bilitation and fitness to reenter the community. If so, they are entitled to have their sentences reduced.
Second Look has achieved impressive success by providing direct representation to
clients in sentence reduction hearings, by recruiting and training pro bono and CJA
attorneys to represent additional clients and by providing reentry assistance to clients
returning to the community. Second Look has directly represented sixty-four individu-
als and has recruited private law firms to handle an additional one hundred cases on a pro
bono basis. The Gumpert Committee site visit team found that Second Look’s work has resulted in the reduction of twelve life sentences, 308 years of incarceration under definite sentences and forty-four years of supervised parole. Moreover, of the 178 individuals who have been released to date under the D.C. legislation, only two have been re-arrested for crimes more serious than supervisory violations, and none has been convicted. Upon considering Second Look’s impressive record, the Foundation’s Board approved a $100,000 grant to enable to provide legal assistance to additional individuals now eligible for the program.
During the College’s Spring Meeting, the Foundation Board also approved awards to the National Criminal Defense College (NCDC) and Ohio Legal Help. The NCDC award of $55,000 is com- prised of $35,000 for the training of public and federal defenders and $20,000 for the training of volunteer criminal defense lawyers in Mississippi. The Mississippi Fellows have committed to participate in and provide additional financial support for the training program in their state.
Ohio Legal Help received a $50,000 award to aid former inmates in reentry to the community and to lessen the risk of recidivism. Upon release, incarcerated individuals frequently face signif- icant child support arrearages unless those support obligations have been suspended during the period of incarceration. When that occurs, the released individuals are often unable to meet those obligations or to obtain credit and, as a result, sometimes resort to crime. The Foundation’s grant is intended to enable Ohio Legal to develop and deploy a means of enabling individuals to sus- pend their support obligations until after their release from incarceration.
The Foundation also approved smaller grants to Louisiana Appleseed and the Atlantic Center for Capital Representation totaling $80,000.
The Foundation is entirely dependent upon contributions from Fellows to support its law-related charitable work. Unlike most charities, the ACTL Foundation devotes 100% of every contribu- tion to charitable purposes rather than being used for administrative expenses, fundraising or other purposes.
David J. Hensler Foundation President
SUMMER 2024 JOURNAL 108