Aram Byer James is a former

Santa Clara County, CA Santa Clara County, officially the County of Santa Clara, is the sixth-most populous county in the U.S. state of California, with a population of 1,936,259, as of the 2020 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring San Benito County together f ...

Assistant

Public Defender A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Hungary and Singapore, ...

, police watchdog,

social activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

, and

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

attorney.Police watchdog threatens lawsuit, Bill D'Agostino, ''

Palo Alto Weekly The ''Palo Alto Weekly'' is a weekly community newspaper in Palo Alto in the U.S. state of California. Owned by Embarcadero Media, it serves Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley, Stanford, East Palo Alto and Los Altos Hills. It was e ...

'', Wednesday, April 6, 2005Public Eye: Judging the Judge

''

Metro Silicon Valley ''Metro'' is a free weekly newspaper published by the San Jose, California, based Metro Newspapers. Also known as ''Metro Silicon Valley'', as well as ''Metroactive'' online, the paper serves the greater Silicon Valley area. In addition to print ...

'', 10-17-02Poster eye-catching... when seen: Civil rights initiative, ''San Jose Mercury News'', August 21, 1996, p. 1B As an expert on the

defense of necessity In tort common law, the defense of necessity gives the state or an individual a privilege to take or use the property of another. A defendant typically invokes the defense of necessity only against the intentional torts of trespass to chattels, tr ...

, he headed the team of attorneys defending

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

students and professors arrested in anti-

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

protests in 1980’s.15 Stanford Protestors Jailed for Anti-Apartheid Sit-ins, ''San Jose Mercury News'', 4-18-1986, 1B Local He is an advocate of

jury nullification Jury nullification (US/UK), jury equity (UK), or a perverse verdict (UK) occurs when the jury in a criminal trial gives a not guilty verdict despite a defendant having clearly broken the law. The jury's reasons may include the belief that the ...

, educator in the use of the Marsden Motion to fire ineffective public defenders, a critic of the

prison industrial complex A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correcti ...

, and critic of police use of

tasers A taser is an electroshock weapon used to incapacitate people, allowing them to be approached and handled in an unresisting and thus safe manner. It is sold by Axon, formerly TASER International. It fires two small barbed darts intended to ...

and racial profiling.Taser recommendation delayed - Instead, Task Force hears from Taser-sponsored doctor, ACLU, and activist Aram James, Becky Trout, ''Palo Alto Weekly'', March 28, 2007Tasers:Are They a Viable Option?, ''East Palo Alto Today'', May 3, 2011Charged Debate, Marty Levine, '' Pittsburgh City Paper'', 11-15-2007

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:James, Aram Byer People from Santa Clara County, California Law in the San Francisco Bay Area Living people Activists from the San Francisco Bay Area California lawyers Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Jury nullification Public defenders