Gulf Region Advocacy Center (GRACE) (Texas)
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"Up" is the number of experts who agree that the nonprofit has had the most impact in the
field. "Down" is the number of experts who disagree that the nonprofit has had the most impact in field.
Headquarters Location: Houston, TX
Founded: 2002
Mission: The Gulf Region Advocacy Center, or GRACE, is organized for the purpose of supporting and providing quality representation to indigent persons charged with capital crimes in the state courts of Texas and Louisiana. The Director and several of the Board members are veteran capital trial lawyers who participated in building the Louisiana Crisis Assistance Center (LCAC) in New Orleans, Louisiana. The LCAC has developed an extremely successful method for investigating and presenting capital cases for indigent defendants. This method has been refined through dozens of capital cases in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. No such office or organization has ever existed in Harris County. Though the Harris County District Attorney's Office has long maintained specialized units for capital trial and appellate work, never has there been a Harris County defender's office devoted exclusively to capital trials of the indigent where public interest lawyers can work together, share skills and materials, benefit from economies of scale, engage in systematic impact litigation and become specialists in indigent capital trials. GRACE is such an office.
Tags:
legal representation, texas, louisiana, capital crime, death penalty, mitigation services, consulting, training and education
Summary
Stories
Expert Reviews
Leadership
From the Nonprofit
Leadership
Danalynn Recer.
Danalynn Recer began fighting the death penalty in Texas two decades ago, working initially as an investigator and later as an attorney with the Texas Resource Center. In 1995, she moved to New Orleans to work with Clive Stafford Smith at the Louisiana Crisis Assistance Center, nationally known for its aggressive and creative capital trial representation. While there, she participated…
See full bio.
Financial Data
| Overhead Ratio: n/a |
| Total Revenue: $621,183 |
From the Nonprofit
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Contact Info
Address:
2307 Union St
Houston, TX 77007, USA
Story:
GRACE began in 2002 when Calvin “Sleeping Lawyer” Burdine was returned to Harris County for retrial and Robert McGlasson, the habeas attorney who had fought for twenty years to overturn his unconstitutional conviction and sentence, was denied appointment to represent him at trial. Ironically, the Texas Fair Defense Act, which had been passed in response to the revelation that Calvin’s original attorney slept through portions of his capital trial, was invoked to deny Calvin his attorney of choice at retrial. Calvin was adamant that he would not accept counsel chosen by the court. Robert asked Danalynn Recer, a former post-conviction attorney who had switched to capital trial work several years before, to step in on a pro bono basis. Danalynn represented Calvin, eventually securing a life plea for him and founding the Gulf Region Advocacy Center (GRACE) in the process.
Because there is no statewide public defender system in Texas, GRACE became the first office here devoted to capital trial work, with the goal of bringing the successful methods of the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center and other capital defender offices to Houston.
Expert Reviews of Gulf Region Advocacy Center (GRACE) (Texas)
Evidence of Impact Summary:
The Gulf Region Advocacy Center has been heralded for the strength of legal representation that the agency provides to individuals accused of capital crimes and its ability to reduce death penalty cases in Harris County, Texas--a county with a high number of capital punishment cases.See expert comments.
Organization Strengths Summary:
GRACE's dedicated staff and leadership have been noted by experts as one of the major areas in which this organization is strong and effective. They also make good use of scarce resources and have been able to raise awareness about the issue of representation in capital punishment cases.See expert comments.
Areas for Improvement Summary:
Experts have stated that GRACE could improve with more collaborative efforts.See expert comments.
Expert Comments: Evidence of Impact
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High-Quality Legal Representation |
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GRACE has made a huge impact in the quality of representation in capital trials in TX. Their work is the best in the field, and they have gradually raised the standard of care in all of TX, which has long been resistant to providing the support needed for good work in capital trials. | ||
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GRACE, led by Danalynn Recer, has had a major impact on the number of death sentences and quality of representation in capital cases in Texas, and particularly in Harris County, Texas (Houston). They have accomplished this by setting an example through direct representation; by heavy consultation with trial counsel; and by providing case specific training to trial counsel. The organization has also played a key role in setting the standards for penalty phase investigations in capital cases all across Texas. Through their work, GRACE has demonstrated, time and time again, in first trials and retrials (after death sentences have been vacated) how quality pretrial, penalty phase investigations, and preparation can produce a pretrial resolution with a life sentence, even in the most difficult cases. | ||
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They provide outstanding death penalty mitigation investigation, development, and presentation in capital cases. They give excellent training to new litigators and lawyers around the country. | ||
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GRACE has an excellent track record of defending people in trial-level death penalty cases in Harris County, Texas-- the most active capital punishment jurisdiction in the world. It also reduces the number of executions by elevating the level of capital defense through active participation in training programs aimed at appointed lawyers and mitigation specialists. | ||
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They provide excellent legal representation for individuals facing the death penalty. | ||
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They have produced strong litigation work in capital cases. | ||
Successful Reform |
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GRACE has dramatically reduced death sentences in Houston, Texas (Harris County), the former capitol of capital punishment. | ||
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Fueled by an aggressive DA’s office, bad defense attorneys, and a stoic judiciary, if Harris County, Texas were a state it would have the third largest death row in the country. In seven years, GRACE has significantly reduced the number of poor people getting the death penalty in Houston by directly representing people, establishing good motions practice and representation models for the local bar and consulting with local attorneys on capital cases. The main drive of this office is its tireless executive director, Danalynn Recer. | ||
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Their effort to reduce death sentences in Texas is having both a local and national impact. They also assist in training others in their style of work. | ||
Expert Comments: Organization Strengths
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Great Leadership |
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Outstanding leadership. | ||
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Outstanding leadership. | ||
Great Staff and Leadership |
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This organization employs a staff with the ability to interact effectively with impacted communities. They are also a good training resource. | ||
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The leadership and senior staff are among the best in the death peanly defense community. | ||
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The leadership and staff of this organization and its committment to excellence are its greatest strengths. The organization started on a shoe string budget and survived through the hard work of a small but determined and dedicated staff. A related strength is the organization's ability to continue to identify and recruit staff who are committed to its ideals. | ||
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GRACE achieves its results less through legal talent and more through its expertise in the investigation and development of mitigation evidence in death penalty cases. Because of the expertise and dedication of its director, Danalynn Recer, GRACE enjoys wide support from criminal defense lawyers and organizations throughout the U.S. | ||
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Their leadership and staff have a strong commitment to follow through. They look at the big picture, where change is needed, as well as the needs of individual clients. | ||
Good Use of Resources |
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GRACE does a lot with a little: the organization has survived for a long time on a shoe-string budget. Perhaps more than any other organization, they get the most out of every dollar. | ||
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By virtue of local publicity on its success, GRACE also has raised awareness about the fact that people get the death penalty by bad lawyering and not bad jury pools or ugly crimes. GRACE is also good at maximizing its resources through the use of volunteer law students, foreign European students, and volunteers from the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. | ||
Helpful to Other Organizations |
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They save the lives of capitally charged defendants in Texas. They develop pleadings that can and are used by other defenders in Texas. | ||
Strong Marketing Techniques |
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Marketing is a strength, as reflected by their appearance in the New Yorker. The quality of leadership appears to be another strength. | ||
Expert Comments: Areas for Improvement
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More Collaboration |
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They could improve in their leadership and collaboration. | ||
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They need to improve their relationships with other local non-profits. They need to be more diplomatic in approach. | ||
Better Relationships |
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GRACE does some good work, but it is marred by lots of personal strife in the staff and with others. | ||
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GRACE does some good work, but it is marred by lots of personal strife in the staff and with others. | ||
More Staff Members |
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With adequate and reliable funding, GRACE could increase staff and increase the number of cases it works in. They critically need another two or more senior level attorneys. | ||
Better Staff Retention |
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GRACE's limited budget has required low salaries, which means greater turnover. Retaining staff will require more competitive salaries. Historically, too many responsibilities have fallen on the director. | ||
Better Financial Stability |
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It seems GRACE is always in financial crisis. It badly needs a chief financial officer. Financial stability could be improved with a better system for billing and collecting fees for services, notwithstanding the harsh financial climate for any defender organization in the state of Texas. | ||
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GRACE is terrible at fundraising and its current bad financial shape is attributable to this. It could also be better organized so that young attorneys and investigators feel like they can work there and survive. | ||
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They have to establish a firmer financial footing to survive. This may require some adaptation of their style of work. | ||
Better Funding |
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GRACE needs to find a reliable source of funding. GRACE also needs to reach out to different philanthropic sources rather than relying on the same sources all the time. | ||
Create Permanent Staff and Regular Funding |
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Could improve by creating a permanent staff and a regular stream of funding. | ||
Leadership
Danalynn Recer
Director
Director
From the Nonprofit
The nonprofit has not added any comments yet. If you are a representative of this nonprofit and would like to leave a comment, please email us at
feedback@myphilanthropedia.org
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