Who and What Is An Advocate? Interview with Theresa Marasco

An advocate is both a noun and a verb.  As a noun we are talking about a person who speaks or writes in support or defense of a person, cause, etc.  There are professional advocacy groups, professional independent advocates and many other models but the main focus of advocacy is conflict resolution.  Advocacy means to advocate for or defend how you feel about something by advancing a certain viewpoint.  There are many differrent types and areas of advocacy but tonight we focus on advocating for the voiceless within the criminal justice system.  When you hear that a person is an advocate working in the criminal justice system, usually they are speaking against some part of that system or advocating for a individual who has been wronged by that system.  At a higher level an advocate is working at the legislative level to fight for change.  

Theresa Marasco is one of the Just Us advocates and has been helping and advocating for others in the criminal justice arena both on individual cases and legislative causes.  Theresa will talk about what drew her into fighting for others, she will talk about her teen years when she had to advocate for herself, her time in the juvenile justice system and even on a wagon train for at risk youth.  She has been the subject of several documentaries and continues to fight for others wronged by the system.  Her son followed in her foot steps, spending his own time in the system and coming out to fight of others.  He, too, has been the subject of a movie style documentary called Jamesy Boy and right now is working for VICE doing a solitary confinement live streaming project.  He is currently spending 30 days in lock down to raise awareness and show the public how stressful that is for those who suffer it.  Theresa's advocacy has become a family affair.