# Vida Johnson

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{{Short description|American criminal defense attorney}}
{{Infobox person
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|education     = [University of California, Berkeley](/source/University_of_California%2C_Berkeley) ([BA](/source/Bachelor_of_Arts))<br>[New York University School of Law](/source/New_York_University_School_of_Law) ([JD](/source/Juris_Doctor))
|occupation    = Associate Professor of Law at [Georgetown University Law Center](/source/Georgetown_University_Law_Center); Criminal Defense Attorney
|known_for     = 
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|website     = [http://www.law.georgetown.edu/faculty/johnson-vida.cfm Georgetown Law Biography]
}}

'''Vida B. Johnson''' is an American [criminal defense attorney](/source/criminal_defense_attorney) and associate professor of law at [Georgetown University Law Center](/source/Georgetown_University_Law_Center). Johnson works in the Criminal Defense and Prisoner Advocacy Clinic and Criminal Justice Clinic, and supervises attorneys in the [E. Barrett Prettyman](/source/E._Barrett_Prettyman) Post-Graduate Fellowship Program. Johnson regularly writes in the area of criminal law and procedure.

==Family and education==
Johnson's grandfather, Dr. Reverend [Allen Johnson](/source/Allen_Johnson_(activist)), was a leader in the [Civil Rights Movement](/source/Civil_Rights_Movement) in [Mississippi](/source/Mississippi).<ref name=those>{{cite book|last1=Smith|first1=Abbe|last2=Freedman|first2=Monroe|title=How Can You Represent Those People|publisher=palgrave}}</ref> In 1967, the Johnson family home in [Laurel, Mississippi](/source/Laurel%2C_Mississippi) was bombed by members of the [Ku Klux Klan](/source/Ku_Klux_Klan). Reverend Johnson and his family were targeted because he was an activist in the [National Association for the Advancement of Colored People](/source/National_Association_for_the_Advancement_of_Colored_People).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dittmer|first1=John|title=Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi|url=https://archive.org/details/localpeoplestrug00ditt|url-access=registration|date=1994|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=9780252021022}}</ref>

Vida Johnson was raised in [San Diego, California](/source/San_Diego%2C_California).<ref name=those/> Johnson went to college at the [University of California at Berkeley](/source/University_of_California%2C_Berkeley).<ref name=profile>{{cite web|title=Vida Johnson Profile|url=http://www.law.georgetown.edu/faculty/johnson-vida.cfm|website=georgetown.edu|accessdate=27 April 2015}}</ref> Johnson earned her degree in American history. Johnson went on to law school at [New York University School of Law](/source/New_York_University_School_of_Law).<ref name="profile"/> Johnson went to law school wanting to be a civil rights lawyer, following in the footsteps of her grandfather.<ref name=those/> After her first year of law school, Johnson worked at the Louisiana Crisis Assistance Center where she worked on class-action lawsuits on behalf of death row inmates at the [Mississippi State Penitentiary](/source/Mississippi_State_Penitentiary).<ref name=those/> After her second summer, she interned at the [San Francisco](/source/San_Francisco) public defender's office. During her final year of law school, she worked in the Juvenile Defense Clinic at NYU Law.<ref name=those/> After law school, Johnson was an [E. Barrett Prettyman](/source/E._Barrett_Prettyman) fellow at Georgetown Law.<ref name="profile"/> As a fellow, she represented indigent adults in the [D.C. Superior Court](/source/D.C._Superior_Court) and supervised students in the Criminal Justice Clinic.<ref name=profile/>

==Legal career==

===Public defender service===
After her fellowship at Georgetown Law, Johnson began work as a public defender with the trial division of the [Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia](/source/Public_Defender_Service_for_the_District_of_Columbia) (PDS), where she worked for eight years.<ref name=profile/> At PDS, Johnson handled serious felony cases. She tried numerous felony cases in D.C. Superior Court representing indigent clients facing charges including homicide, sexual assault, and armed offenses.<ref name=profile/> Johnson eventually became a supervisor of the trial division and served as one of the PDS's two representatives to the D.C. Superior Court Sentencing Guidelines Commission.<ref name=profile/>

===Georgetown Law===
In 2009, Johnson began working and teaching in the Juvenile Justice Clinic at Georgetown University Law Center.<ref name=profile/> Johnson now works in the Criminal Justice Clinic (CJC) and Criminal Defense & Prisoner Advocacy Clinic (CDPAC).<ref name=profile/>  In her CDPAC and CJC role, she directs [Juris Doctor](/source/Juris_Doctor) students representing defendants facing misdemeanor charges in D.C. Superior Court.<ref name=cdpac>{{cite web|title=Criminal Defense & Prisoner Advocacy Clinic (CDPAC)|url=http://www.law.georgetown.edu/academics/academic-programs/clinical-programs/our-clinics/criminal-defense-prisoner-advocacy/|website=law.georgetown.edu|accessdate=5 January 2015}}</ref><ref name=CJC>{{cite web|title=CJC Staff|url=https://www.law.georgetown.edu/academics/academic-programs/clinical-programs/our-clinics/Criminal-Justice-Clinic/cjc-staff-contact-us.cfm|accessdate=27 April 2015}}</ref>

Johnson is also a supervisor for the E. Barrett Prettyman Fellowship and Stuart Stiller Post-Graduate Fellowship Program.<ref name=prettyman>{{cite web|title=Prettyman Program|url=http://www.law.georgetown.edu/academics/academic-programs/clinical-programs/our-clinics/criminal-justice-clinic/cjc-graduate-teaching-fellowships.cfm|accessdate=27 April 2015}}</ref>  The E. Barrett Prettyman and Stuart Stiller Fellowship Program combines instruction in the Law Center's graduate school with representation of indigent clients in the local courts of the District of Columbia.<ref name=prettymanfellow>{{cite web|title=CDPAC Graduate Teaching Fellowships|url=http://www.law.georgetown.edu/academics/academic-programs/clinical-programs/our-clinics/criminal-defense-prisoner-advocacy/graduate-teaching-fellowships.cfm|website=law.georgetown.edu|accessdate=14 January 2015}}</ref> It trains recent law graduates in both the academic and practical aspects of courtroom advocacy.<ref name=prettyman/> The program aims to improve defense advocacy in the criminal justice system by providing able, devoted counsel under mature supervision for indigent defendants.<ref name=prettymanfellow/> The fellowships are awarded to three recent law graduates selected to participate in a two-year program leading to the [LL.M.](/source/LL.M.) degree.<ref name=prettymanfellow/> In the program, Johnson supervises fellows handling felonies and misdemeanors.<ref name=prettyman/>

==Writing and views==
Johnson writes and teaches in the area of criminal law. In ''A Plea for Funds: Using Padilla, Lafler, and Frye to Increase Public Defender Resources,'' writes about Supreme Court case law around ineffective assistance of counsel and on how this line of cases impacts public defender offices.<ref name=ACLR>{{cite web|last1=Johnson|first1=Vida|title=A Plea for Funds: Using Padilla, Lafler, and Frye to Increase Public Defender Resources|url=http://www.americancriminallawreview.com/files/2514/0944/5359/A_Plea_for_Funds.pdf|website=americancriminallawreview.com|accessdate=27 April 2015}}{{Dead link|date=January 2026 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Berman|first1=Douglas|title=A Plea for Funds: Using Padilla, Lafler, and Frye to Increase Public Defender Resources|url=http://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2014/09/a-plea-for-funds-using-padilla-lafler-and-frye-to-increase-public-defender-resources.html|accessdate=27 April 2015}}</ref>

Johnson does indigent criminal defense work because she believes there to be criminalization of the black community that replaced the [Jim Crow](/source/Jim_Crow) segregation of her grandfather's time.<ref name=those/> Johnson appeared on [C-SPAN](/source/C-SPAN) to discuss criminal defense work.<ref>{{cite web|title=How Can You Represent Those People?|url=http://www.c-span.org/person/?vidajohnson|website=cspan.org|accessdate=27 April 2015}}</ref>

Johnson supports the [Black Lives Matter](/source/Black_Lives_Matter) movement.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://blackspaceblog.com/2014/12/08/an-open-letter-of-love-to-black-students-blacklivesmatter/ | title=An Open Letter of Love to Black Students: #BlackLivesMatter | accessdate=27 April 2015 | website=blackspaceblog.com/| date=8 December 2014 }}</ref>

Johnson signed "Second chances: More harm than good?," a letter to the editor of [The Washington Post](/source/The_Washington_Post), along with Professor [Abbe Smith](/source/Abbe_Smith) and Professor [Kristin Henning](/source/Kristin_Henning).<ref name=Second>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/second-chances-more-harm-than-good/2016/12/07/e40e3a70-bbcd-11e6-ae79-bec72d34f8c9_story.html |title=Second chances: More harm than good? |date=2016-12-07 |newspaper=[The Washington Post](/source/The_Washington_Post) |place=Washington, D.C. |issn=0190-8286 |oclc=1330888409}}</ref> The letter criticized the [https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/second-chance-law-for-young-criminals-puts-violent-offenders-back-on-dc-streets/2016/12/02/fcb56c74-8bc1-11e6-875e-2c1bfe943b66_story.html "Second-Chance City"] series and its negative portrayal of the Youth Rehabilitation Act.<ref name=Second/>

Johnson, along with six other law professors, organized an open letter urging the [U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary](/source/United_States_Senate_Committee_on_the_Judiciary) to reject the nomination of Senator [Jeff Sessions](/source/Jeff_Sessions) (R-Ala.) for the position of [U.S. Attorney General](/source/United_States_Attorney_General).<ref name=hoya>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thehoya.com/law-professors-protest-trumps-attorney-general-nomination/|title=Law Professors Protest Trump's Attorney General Nomination|date=10 January 2017}}</ref><ref name=letter>{{Cite web|url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/167Ci3pVqwzOUe7_e7itlpew1qGcTo0ZD5dNICIbLQWA/pub|title = Law Professors in Opposition to Jeff Sessions Nomination}}</ref> More than 1,400 law school faculty members from 180 institutions signed the letter,<ref name=hoya/> including 1,226 law school professors from 179 campuses in 48 states.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nationallawjournal.com/home/id=1202776071416/Law-Schools-Pile-on-the-Opposition-to-Sessions-AG-Nomination?mcode=1202617074964&curindex=3&slreturn=20170011134103|title=Law Schools Pile on the Opposition to Sessions' AG Nomination}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/more-than-1100-law-school-professors-nationwide-oppose-sessionss-nomination-as-attorney-general/2017/01/03/dbf55750-d1cc-11e6-a783-cd3fa950f2fd_story.html |title=More than 1,100 law school professors nationwide oppose Sessions's nomination as attorney general |date=2017-01-03 |author1=Sari Horwitz |newspaper=[The Washington Post](/source/The_Washington_Post) |place=Washington, D.C. |issn=0190-8286 |oclc=1330888409}}</ref><ref name=letter/> Johnson appeared on [MSNBC](/source/MSNBC) to discuss the letter.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/MSNBCW_20170107_200000_MSNBC_Live/start/2580/end/2640|title=MSNBC Live : MSNBCW : January 7, 2017 12:00pm-1:01pm PST|date=7 January 2017}}</ref>

==Contributions to law reviews and scholarly journals==
* Arresting Batson: How Striking Jurors Based on Arrest Records Violates Batson, 34 [Yale L. & Pol'y Rev.](/source/Yale_Law_%26_Policy_Review) 387 (2016).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ylpr.yale.edu/arresting-batson-how-striking-jurors-based-arrest-records-violates-batson|title = Arresting Batson: How Striking Jurors Based on Arrest Records Violates Batson &#124; Yale Law & Policy Review}}</ref>
* Presumed Fair? Voir Dire on the Fundamentals of Our Criminal Justice System, 45 Seton Hall L. Rev. 545 (2015).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ssrn.com/abstract=2606260|title=Presumed Fair? Voir Dire on the Fundamentals of Our Criminal Justice System|date=12 April 2015|last1=Johnson|first1=Vida}}</ref>
* A Plea for Funds: Using Padilla, Lafler, and Frye to Increase Public Defender Resources, 51 [American Criminal Law Review](/source/American_Criminal_Law_Review) 403 (2014).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ssrn.com/abstract=2492215|title=A Plea for Funds: Using Padilla, Lafler, and Frye to Increase Public Defender Resources|date=5 September 2014|last1=Johnson|first1=Vida|doi=10.2139/ssrn.2492215 |s2cid=141183268 }}</ref>
* When the Government Holds the Purse Strings but Not the Purse: Brady, Giglio, and Crime Victim Compensation Funds, 38 N.Y.U. Rev. L. & Soc. Change 491 (2014).<ref>{{cite web| url=https://socialchangenyutest.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/johnson_6-6-15_final_corrected_an.pdf | title=WHEN THE GOVERNMENT HOLDS THE PURSE STRINGS BUT NOT THE PURSE: BRADY, GIGLIO, AND CRIME VICTIM COMPENSATION FUNDS| access-date=2023-12-26}}</ref>
* Effective Assistance of Counsel and Guilty Pleas—Seven Rules to Follow, 37 The Champion 24 (2013).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nacdl.org/Champion.aspx?id=30855|title = NACDL - Effective Assistance of Counsel and Guilty Pleas — Seven Rules to Follow}}</ref>
* A Word of Caution: Consequences of Confession, 10 Ohio St. J. Crim. L. 213 (2012).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ssrn.com/abstract=2503765|title=A Word of Caution: Consequences of Confession|year=2012|last1=Johnson|first1=Vida}}</ref>
* A Primer on Crossing an Informant, 35 The Champion 40 (2011).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nacdl.org/champion.aspx?id=16219|title = NACDL - A Primer on Crossing an Informant}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://twitter.com/vidabjohnson Vida Johnson] on [Twitter](/source/Twitter)
* {{C-SPAN|72963}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Vida}}
Category:Living people
Category:Public defenders
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Georgetown University Law Center faculty
Category:American criminal defense lawyers
Category:Writers from Washington, D.C.
Category:Activists for African-American civil rights
Category:21st-century American women writers
Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni
Category:New York University School of Law alumni
Category:Lawyers from San Diego
Category:21st-century African-American academics
Category:21st-century American legal scholars
Category:American anti–death penalty activists
Category:American anti-poverty advocates
Category:American anti-racism activists
Category:21st-century American essayists
Category:Activists from California
Category:American women essayists
Category:American women legal scholars
Category:21st-century African-American women writers
Category:21st-century African-American writers
Category:American women human rights activists

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Vida Johnson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vida_Johnson) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vida_Johnson?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.