Seeking Mitigation Interns for Summer 2021

Apply by January 31, 2021
SADO is a public defender office that represents clients appealing their felony convictions. SADO’s Juvenile Lifer Unit (JLU) is accepting applications for remote Mitigation Interns for the summer of 2021. The JLU represents clients who were sentenced to life in prison as children and are entitled to re-sentencing hearings under the Supreme Court decisions in Montgomery and Miller. Mitigation interns will be supervised by a JLU mitigation specialist or attorney. JLU mitigation specialists develop mitigation and life history evidence to seek reduced sentences and second chances for our clients. This involves regularly meeting with clients; interviewing witnesses, such as family members, teachers, prison staff, neighbors, friends, doctors, and counselors; and collecting records from places such as schools, courts, police agencies, employers, hospitals, doctors, and social services. We compile this information into humanizing, compelling narratives about our clients’ life stories and their growth over time. The primary role of the mitigation intern will be to assist JLU staff by synthesizing data collected through mitigation investigation and conducting research on relevant mitigation subject areas. 

Intern responsibilities may include: 
  • assisting with collecting, reviewing, summarizing, and synthesizing mitigation records; 
  • synthesizing life history information into timelines, spreadsheets, visual aids, and summaries; 
  • writing research memos on mitigation-related topics, such as trauma, child development, race and class dynamics, and local history; 
  • interviewing witnesses and clients, and; 
  • drafting social history narratives. 
Additional information
  • This internship is open to undergraduate and graduate-level interns from a range of disciplines such as social work, anthropology, psychology, creative writing, criminal justice, and sociology
  • The internship will likely be entirely remote due to COVID-19 
  • Interns must have computer and internet access 
  • Internship hours can be part-time or full-time (minimum of 15 hours per week), with a preference for full-time
  • The internship will run from May to August
  • This internship is not paid
  • Interns are encouraged to seek course credit or external funding for their internship and their supervisors will provide necessary documentation and materials to do so 
Please submit a resume and cover letter (in a single PDF) explaining your interest in mitigation, public defense, clients serving juvenile life without parole sentences, and/or the criminal legal system to: Chelsea Richardson at crichardson@sado.org with the subject line ‘Mitigation Intern Summer 2021.’ 

SADO is an equal opportunity employer. We strongly encourage people of color, people with disabilities, people directly affected by the criminal legal system, first generation college students, and LGBTQ people to apply. 

Please apply by January 31, 2021.