Published:
Monday, November 25, 2013
The ACLU of Washington has many wonderful interns who assist with our work. We would like you to meet some of them.
Kelsey Engstrom frequently studies ACLU materials and cases as a University of Washington senior studying in the Law, Society and Justice department. Almost every article she is assigned seems to reference cases that the ACLU has been involved in. One that stood out was Cohen v. California, where the ACLU defended Cohen’s right of free speech to wear a jacket saying “fuck the draft.”
These studies led Kelsey to get involved at the ACLU as a legal intake counselor. She wants to learn more and get hands-on experience with civil liberties in America and then use her knowledge on a more global stage.
Kelsey is starting to work on her Senior Honors thesis on “Human Trafficking in Seattle.” She will focus on illegal labor over sex and other types of trafficking; while issues of labor are often overlooked as a lesser crime, they are far more prevalent in Washington. She is also interested in prison rights and the crossover with mental health and incarceration. As an intake counselor, she frequently hears pleas from inmates; she finds it heartbreaking that so many people end up in prison for reasons associated with their mental health issues. Once in prison, there is often no care at all, and their conditions only get worse.
The ACLU is so important because it fights for justice on issues like these, she says, “especially in this state, where the ACLU is actually getting things done. She points to the ACLU-WA’s Second Chances project, headed by staff attorney Vanessa Hernandez, which seeks fair treatment for people with criminal records. Its goal is that individuals should not be denied housing or employment for old, minor, or irrelevant criminal records.
Kelsey’s legal intake work helps to identify pressing problems as well as provide help to individuals who need it. The most rewarding calls she gets are for those who qualify for “second chances.” As she explains, “As long as people have paid their LFO’s (court-imposed legal financial obligations), the ACLU can help them clear their criminal records and can do so quickly.”
A San Francisco native, Kelsey has been spending all of her free time studying abroad in Prague, Ireland, The Hague, and Ecuador. She is looking forward spending some time with her family after she graduates next June, but then is going to move to NYC. She will take the Foreign Service Exam, and she hopes to keep traveling and defending civil liberties and social justice throughout the world.
