The Oakland Branch Office of the Alameda County Public Defender provides the highest quality of indigent criminal defense by vigorously advocating for the rights of individuals facing criminal charges in adult and juvenile court. We have successfully accomplished this through the dedication and hard work. The Alameda County Public Defender’s Office also offers the Know Your Rights project called L.Y.R.I.C. (Learn Your Rights In California). The focus of the program is to educate students about their Constitutional rights and to practice how students can interact with police safely while exercising their rights. The course discuss casual encounters, detentions, searches and arrests by police officers. Along with other branch offices, the Oakland office also offers a Clean Slate Program for defendants pending criminal case and are not on parole. Clean slate options could include reducing felonies to misdemeanors for qualifying offenses, early termination of felony or misdemeanor probation, dismissal of case when probation is completed, dismissal of infraction cases, dismissal of local prison cases, certificates of Rehabilitation for state prison and PC 290 cases or sealing arrest records when factually innocent. If you are interested in applying for services from the Clean Slate Program, please return to their website on or after December 30, 2021, when you will be able to access their new online application.