I'm telling you, go to the courthouse, I'd like to think some of these district judges, and magistrate judges (many of whom do not have law degrees, and are just retired cops--you know cops from the time when we couldn't deny the system was racist?) I'd like to think these judges wouldn't be quite so unfair if they had an audience. and furthermore if ANYONE you know has court date, show up with them, Be a witness, be someone a public defender can point towards and say "this is a one off, the defendant has a support system, ready to help them become better, we don't need to put this person in jail, jail doesn't make anyone better." And if the judge isn't listening to a decent argument, tell your friends, all of them, and register to vote, because--again--most folks don't get that far down on the ballot, but that's where change happens on a community level.

If a public defender's office (that has a brain) knew they had a few family members in the public section, they might be able to leverage some police abuse videos for reasonable deals, if it's relevant to the case, it's admissible at some phases of trial--sentencing, and Bail hearings--being a big two.