Day One Stories

Help Us Change the System by Sharing Your Story 

 

Have you — or a close family member — been impacted by the criminal justice system? Do you want to help improve the system for others?

 

Your story can make a difference! 

 

The Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center is looking for people to share their experiences of their first post-arrest court appearance. The Deason Center is a nonpartisan team of attorneys and researchers who advocate for important due process protections immediately after arrest. We call this our Day One campaign. Our Day One goals include:


  • Appointment of counsel as soon as possible after arrest;

  • Initial interviews with attorneys before the first court hearing; 

  • Prompt first court appearances; and

  • An attorney who makes robust arguments for pretrial release and challenges weak cases.

 

Studies show that these Day One reforms reduce unnecessary pretrial detention and strengthen the defense of a criminal case.

 

But numbers alone don’t change laws — stories do. 


Start the process — Take the survey!


We are looking for people to share their stories of the first time they saw a judge after their arrest.

What happened at your first court hearing?

Maybe you didn’t understand what was happening. Maybe you didn’t have a lawyer. Or maybe you had a lawyer who truly advocated for you, and you felt — firsthand — the powerful difference that a good lawyer can make.

Whether your first court appearance was good or bad, your story matters, and we want to hear it.

If you are willing to share your story, please use the linked survey to tell us a little about yourself and your courtroom experience. We will read every story with gratitude, and we will always remember that your story belongs to you. We will never use it without your permission.

 

If we think your story is right for our Day One campaign, we’ll follow up with more details. 

 

Start the process — Take the survey!


Let Us Answer Your Questions

Tell Me More About the Deason Center

The Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center is a non-partisan team of lawyers and researchers at SMU Dedman School of Law who are working to reform the criminal legal system. The Center’s work focuses on improving the earliest stages of the criminal process. You can learn more about our work here: Day One page. 

The Center’s Day One Campaign is a national advocacy effort that champions due process protections from Day One. Our goals for Day One include:


  • Appointment of counsel as soon as possible after arrest;

  • Initial interviews with attorneys before the first court hearing; 

  • Prompt first court appearances; and

  • Robust arguments for pretrial release and challenges to weak cases.

 

You can learn more about this work on our Day One page.

Participating in the Deason Center's Day One Campaign

We want to hear from people who:

 

  • Were arrested, or have a close family member who was arrested, within the last ten years;

  • Had a public defender or court-appointed lawyer at some point in their case (though that lawyer does not need to have been at the very first court hearing).

 

We are particularly interested in stories from Arkansas, Kansas, Texas, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and West Virginia, but we welcome stories from other states.

Please fill out our initial survey about your story: Click here

  • Your voice matters: Share your experience and perspective to help create positive change for people impacted by the system.

  • Help drive reform: Be part of an effort to demonstrate that good process makes a difference.

The Storytelling Process

We are looking for people to share their Day One experiences — stories about the first time they saw a judge after their arrest. Your stories are critical to our Day One campaign, which is working to speed up appointment of counsel and ensure that arrested people have lawyers who advocate for them at their very first court appearance. 

We are interested in hearing about your very first court appearance following arrest. We are particularly interested in the following questions:

 

  • Did you, or your loved one get to speak with a lawyer before that first hearing? If so, for how long? What was it like?

  • What happened at your first court hearing? What did the judge say?

  • What was the outcome of the hearing? Did you get to go home? If you stayed in jail, for how long? How did this impact you and your family?

No. The case outcome is not critical. The most important thing is that you recall your experience of the first hearing after the arrest.

What Happens After I Fill Out the Survey?

Not necessarily. We plan to interview several people and then select some stories for further development for publication.

The stories that we collect will become part of our national Day One campaign to increase the number of people who receive high-quality counsel at their very first court appearance. As part of this effort, we hope to share some individual stories in policy briefs or on webpages. If we select your story, we will seek your explicit consent to develop the story for publication, and we will work with you on how your story will be told. If you agree to let us publish your story, we will provide further compensation. The Deason Center will not profit from the use of any stories.

Yes. Your survey answers and any interview we conduct are private. We won’t share your name or story without your permission. Before sharing your name or your story, we will make sure that we have your explicit consent. 

Yes. If we contact you and conduct a full interview, you will be compensated with a $50 Visa gift card. 

 

After conducting interviews, we will select some stories that we want to publish. If we select your story, we will seek your consent and work with you on how your story will be told. If you agree to let us publish your story, we will provide further compensation.