Basic Organization Information
Southern Center for Human Rights
- Also Known As:
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SCHR
- Physical Address:
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Atlanta, GA
30303 2122
- EIN:
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62-1025326
- Web URL:
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www.schr.org
- NTEE Category:
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R Civil Rights, Social Action, Advocacy
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R20 Civil Rights, Advocacy for Specific Groups
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I Crime, Legal Related
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I01 Alliance/Advocacy Organizations
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R Civil Rights, Social Action, Advocacy
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R01 Alliance/Advocacy Organizations
- Year Founded:
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1976
- Ruling Year:
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1978
- How This Organization Is Funded:
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Foundations and Organizations - $1,764,009
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Individuals - $340,000
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Mission Statement
The Southern Center for Human Rights (SCHR) is a non-profit, public interest law firm dedicated to enforcing the civil and human rights of people in the criminal justice system in the South. Founded in 1976 in response to the Supreme Court's reinstatement of the death penalty that year and to the horrendous conditions in Southern prisons and jails, SCHR mission is to safeguard the civil and human rights of people of color, poor people, and other disadvantaged people confined to prisons and jails in the South and those facing the death penalty.<br />
<br />
SCHR uses litigation of all kinds --class action lawsuits, individual representation, impact litigation --as its primary tool for challenging unconstitutional and unconscionable practices within the criminal justice system. Alongside litigation, SCHR also uses media advocacy, coalition building, legislative education, and community organizing to challenge the misuse of the criminal justice system in the South.
Impact Summary from the Nonprofit
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Leadership
Ms. Sara Totonchi
Term:
Since
Jan
2010
Profile:
Sara Totonchi joined Southern Center for Human Rights in 2001 as the Public Policy Director and became the Executive Director in January, 2010. She represents SCHR at the Georgia General Assembly on a full range of criminal justice and public safety issues including indigent defense, capital punishment, sentencing, prison and probation privatization, sex offender registry restrictions, and alternatives to incarceration and reentry. She collaborates with attorneys to galvanize public support of SCHR's litigation through strategic media outreach. Sara has lead coalition efforts and legislative advocacy for criminal justice reform with concerned citizens including family members of people in prison, attorneys, faith-based communities, survivors of crime and mental health advocates.<br /> <br /> Sara is the Chairperson of Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, our statewide anti-death penalty coalition, and also serves on the Steering Committee of the International Arab Women's Solidarity Association. Prior to coming to SCHR, Sara worked at the Georgia Commission on Family Violence, an organization that employs a coordinated community response to reduce domestic violence. She has been recognized as a Woman of Achievement by the Georgia Commission on Women. Sara grew up in Chicago and is a graduate of Berry College in Rome, Georgia.
Highest Paid Employees & Their Compensation
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Program:
Death Penalty Representation
- Budget:
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- Population Served:
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Program Description:
The Southern Center for Human Rights represents over 20 people on death row in Georgia and Alabama, while advising dozens of attorneys outside of SCHR on their death penalty cases. While staff attorneys represent our clients through the long road of appeals, our investigators research their case, often unveiling evidence of inadequate defense or prosecutorial misconduct, as well as mitigating evidence which was never previously presented (e.g., histories of abuse, fetal alcohol syndrome, mental illness, and mental retardation). SCHR represents individuals facing the death penalty at trial, on appeal and in the post-conviction review process.
Program Long-Term Success:
The goal of our death penalty work is to not only represent the dozens of individuals who are our clients, but to undermine and ultimately end forever the inhumane practice of capital punishment in the United States.
In this work, success in the short term (though it may take decades) is getting a client off of death row and free from the fear of being executed. For many of our clients, who have become scholars, poets, jailhouse lawyers, and mentors while on death row, this means that they would spend the rest of their lives (though incarcerated) making positive contributions to the prison community and even the free world.
Program Short-Term Success:
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Program Success Examples:
Program:
Civil Litigation
- Budget:
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- Category:
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- Population Served:
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Program Description:
SCHR brings class action lawsuits as well as other high-impact cases to force systemic change in the prisons and jails of the South. The cases we have brought and continue to bring allow us to address the severe overcrowding, lack of medical and mental healthcare, violence and abuse, and illegal practices in prisons and jails. In addition, we challenge illegal or unfair criminal justice practices (such as illegal fines and fees, or unconstitutional restrictions on certain groups).
Program Long-Term Success:
Because SCHR accepts no local, state, or federal funding, we are able to take on the toughest cases against the government that many other legal service organizations cannot. Our reputation as an independent, aggressive advocate for constitutional, civil, and human rights within the criminal justice system allows us to play a critical role in enforcing these rights through both litigation or simple advocacy / public education.
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Expert Reviews and Comments
This organization is a 2011 Philanthropedia top
nonprofit, recommended by experts as having high impact.
These expert reviews were generated through Philanthropedia's research methodology
to identify high-impact nonprofits. Learn more
Evidence of Impact
The Southern Center for Human Rights is praised highly by experts as one of the most influential non-profits in the nation working to improve prison conditions, provide adequate legal representation to indigent defendants, and reduce the use of capital punishment as a response to crime.
Expert Comments
Organizational Strengths
According to experts, SCHR’s main strengths are its top-notch leadership and staff and its holistic approach to addressing criminal justice issues such as minority representation and legal assistance in death penalty cases.
Expert Comments
Areas for Improvement
The main areas in which the SCHR can improve are in their outreach to communities across the United States and in their pay and retention of staff members. Experts have also mentioned that the group could improve by engaging in more collaborative efforts with grassroots groups.
Expert Comments