Lack of Funding — Public Defenders — Galsworthy Criminal Justice Reform Program

Galsworthy Criminal Justice Reform Program

Public Defenders

Defendants on the lower end of the socio-economic scale find themselves at the mercy of public defenders who are swamped with cases, understaffed, and underfunded. Research shows that even before mass incarceration accelerated in the 1980s, overburdened systems of indigent defense struggled to meet the 6th Amendment constitutional mandate. Public defenders usually have the deck stacked against them due to discovery laws favoring prosecutors and lack of sufficient resources.

Posts in Lack of Funding

In Missouri, Public Defenders Push to Put Poor Defendants on Wait List in Attempt to Improve Their Legal Representation

“Public defenders in St. Louis County, Missouri, are seeking to introduce a wait list for poor defendants in need of their services. They say the list, which is awaiting approval from a judge, will help improve the quality of representation by attorneys who routinely carry caseloads so high that they’re unable to devote enough time to properly represent their clients. Critics of the plan say making poor people wait for attorneys will hurt their cases and violate their constitutional rights, but St. Louis County attorneys say it’s a necessary step that they’ve been forced to take to ensure people are provided with competent representation. “

The Appeal

November 26, 2019

Lack of Funding, Improving RepresentationPhillip ReevesNovember 26, 2019The Appeal, MissouriComment

Saints' Demario Davis hosts forum calling for raise in Orleans Public Defenders' budget

“New Orleans Saints player Demario Davis was back in the news Tuesday afternoon, this time not for a successful defensive series or a game-day attire fine-turned-charitable opportunity, but for a cause he hopes gets the attention of city leaders. Using his athlete status, the linebacker brought defense attorneys, advocacy groups and even exonerated citizens together for a Players Coalition forum at Corpus Christi Church to discuss the funding, or lack thereof, for public defenders in Orleans Parish.“

New Orleans Times Picayune

November 5, 2019

Lack of FundingPhillip ReevesNovember 25, 2019New Orleans Times Picayune, New Orleans Saints, New Orleans, DemarioComment

Imagine Being on Trial. With Exonerating Evidence Trapped on Your Phone.

“In America, citizens accused of crimes are supposed to have an advantage. The burden of proof is on prosecutors, and the government must turn over all its evidence to defendants, who have no reciprocal obligation. In practice, of course — and especially when defendants don’t have a lot of money — the government has the edge. Investigators can issue subpoenas, compel testimony and pressure defendants into pleas. Today, one way in which the deck is stacked against defendants involves technology.“

New York Times

November 22, 2019

Lack of FundingPhillip ReevesNovember 22, 2019New York TimesComment

Defenseless: Missouri justice system violates the Constitution every day

“The conclusion is inescapable: The U.S. Constitution guarantees every criminal defendant the right to an effective lawyer, and Missouri violates that right every day. Missouri’s public defender system is an underfunded disaster. Its 384 attorneys are too often overworked, under-trained, lacking needed investigative resources and unavailable for clients in and out of jail.“

Kansas City Star

November 20, 2019

Lack of FundingPhillip ReevesNovember 20, 2019Kansas City Star, MissouriComment

Saints' Demario Davis: New Orleans not giving criminal defendants what they need

“For years, the Orleans Public Defenders Office has moved from one budget crisis to another. In 2012, funding shortfalls forced OPD to lay off a third of its staff. Three years later, and severely short-staffed, OPD had to refuse cases and waitlist people because it could no longer provide each person with the constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel.“

The Advocate

October 14, 2019

Lack of FundingPhillip ReevesOctober 14, 2019The Advocate, Demario Davis, New Orleans, New Orleans Saints, SaintsComment

Sen. Kamala Harris launches bill to help public defenders

“The California senator's proposal would establish a $250 million grant program, which would put a cap on the amount of work full-time public defenders can take on, bridge the pay gap between public defenders and prosecutors within five years, and generate yearly data on workloads. It would also allocate $5 million for "comprehensive training for public defenders."“

ABC News

May 8, 2019

Lack of FundingPhillip ReevesSeptember 18, 2019ABC News, Kamala HarrisComment

Travis County's Public Defender Office Is Officially Funded

“Travis County is in the home stretch in its years long effort to establish a public defender office for low-income adult defendants. The Texas Indigent Defense Commission on Thursday OK'd a four-year grant to establish the office in the county – the largest jurisdiction in the country without such an office. All told, the state and county money will send more than $40 million toward indigent defense over the 48-month grant period.“

NPR Austin

August 29, 2019

Lack of FundingPhillip ReevesAugust 29, 2019NPR Austin, Travis County, Austin, TexasComment

Oregon's Largest Public Defense Group Has Stopped Taking Misdemeanor Cases

“The largest public defense nonprofit in Oregon — Metropolitan Public Defender — has temporarily stopped taking misdemeanor cases, OPB has learned. Nearly 200 cases will need to be redirected to private attorneys, as well as those who have contracts with the state, according to Lane Borg, executive director of the state’s Office of Public Defense Services.“

Oregon Public Broadcasting

June 5, 2019

Lack of FundingPhillip ReevesJune 5, 2019Oregon, Oregon Public BroadcastingComment

Wisconsin's 'Constitutional Crisis' Is Forcing People to Sit in Jail without a Lawyer

“The right to counsel is a core protection for people facing criminal charges, but in Wisconsin, that right is largely theoretical. The state has one of the most underfunded indigent defense systems in the country, but the underlying problem is neither new nor unique to Wisconsin. “

The Appeal

May 20, 2019

Lack of FundingPhillip ReevesMay 20, 2019The Appeal, WisconsinComment

Appointed Defense Lawyers, Public Defenders: Overworked, Underpaid, Ineffective

“The overwhelming majority of the U.S. prison population is made up of poor people. This also creates a back-breaking, mind-boggling burden for public defenders, and in jurisdictions without a public defender office, lawyers who are appointed by judges to represent indigent criminal defendants. With only 60 minutes to an hour and only 24 hours in a day, the sheer volume of criminal defendants assigned to and needing assistance from what few public defenders and appointment-receptive lawyers there are available, an overwhelming workload is created that none of these lawyers can handle and still be able to deliver the reasonably effective assistance that the Sixth Amendment requires.“

Criminal Legal News

May 15, 2019

Lack of Funding, OverbookedPhillip ReevesMay 15, 2019Prison Legal NewsComment

Utah’s troubled public defender system would get a big boost in funding under Gov. Gary Herbert’s plan

“Gov. Gary Herbert earmarked $5 million in ongoing funding for Utah’s Indigent Defense Commission, created in 2016 to tackle a series of problems that places Utah’s system behind those in the vast majority of states. The commission, which currently has a $1.3 million annual budget, doles out state funds to help counties and cities cover the cost of public defenders for poor Utahns.“

Salt Lake Tribune

December 10, 2018

Lack of FundingPhillip ReevesDecember 10, 2018Salt Lake Tribune, UtahComment

Louisiana judge threatens to appoint every eligible lawyer to death penalty case

“The wait list for capital defense representation has been growing for a year and a half, since the state legislature diverted $3 million from the board’s $8.5 million capital defense fund to local public defender offices, a move Dixon describes as ‘basically rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.’ Currently seven people facing the death penalty are in jail indefinitely because they can’t afford a lawyer—a situation that Bunton calls the ‘worst kind of limbo’ for defendants, as well as victims’ families.“

The Appeal

October 29, 2018

Lack of Funding, Pre-trial DifficultiesPhillip ReevesOctober 29, 2018The Appeal, LouisianaComment

Low Pay for Public Defenders and Prosecutors Seen as Threat to Justice

“According to a report compiled for the Council’s Committee on the Justice System, the body that presided over the hearing, an attorney with three years of experience or more can be hired by the Administrative Trial Unit at the Department of Education with an annual salary of $85,000. A job for someone with the same experience at Legal Aid or the Manhattan DA would pay $20,200 and $16,000 less, respectively. Those disparities only increase as lawyers gain experience.“

City Limits

October 29, 2018

Lack of FundingPhillip ReevesOctober 29, 2018City Limits, New York CityComment

Can’t Afford a Lawyer?

"This civil legal system “crisis”, as advocates call it, has sent states scrambling for solutions. Washington has taken the unusual approach of creating an entirely new legal position, one that can help clients with straightforward legal problems for a fraction of the cost. The new “legal technicians”, the first of whom were licensed in 2015, go beyond a paralegal and don’t need a lawyer’s oversight to offer legal advice."

The Marshall Project

July 18, 2018

Lack of Funding, OverbookedAnthony BradleyJuly 30, 2018The Marshall Project, Washington, Right to an Attorney

New Rates For Counsel Representing Indigent Defendants And Families

"For the first time in over 20 years, the Tennessee Supreme Court has ordered an increase in the amount paid to lawyers representing indigent parties in criminal and child welfare cases. This rate increase, a 25 percent hike in the hourly rate paid to lawyers for out-of-court work, was funded by a $9.7 million appropriation by the General Assembly and signed by Governor Bill Haslam. "

The Chattanoogan

July 2, 2018

Public Defenders, Lack of FundingAnthony BradleyJuly 30, 2018The Chattanoogan, Tennessee, Chattanooga

NYC Legal Aid Society Says City Should Provide More Funding for Pay Raises

"As the five District Attorney’s Offices in New York City are set to give their entry-level prosecutors a pay bump with the help of millions in increased spending by the city government, the Legal Aid Society, which is contracted by the city for its services, says it’s time to boost public defenders’ paychecks."

New York Law Journal

June 29, 2018

Lack of FundingAnthony BradleyJuly 30, 2018New York Law Journal

With new courthouse, prosecutor offices coming, public defenders still looking for place to go

“I know the community isn’t necessarily concerned about our plight,” DeWeese said. “But for the sake of functionality of the court, you’d think judges and the prosecutors office would be concerned.”

West Hawaii Today

June 18, 2018

Lack of Funding, Public DefendersAnthony BradleyJuly 30, 2018West Hawaii Today

Budget shortfall threatens rights of accused

"The hardships of the public defender's office are not new. Public defender offices are regularly spilling over with cases. Staff turnover is around 25 percent and the officials hope to address an issue of representing clients who don't actually qualify for court-appointed representation. Add to the list the Office of Public Defender's operational expenses: approximately $74.5 million, or in other words, $9.5 million more than its funding from the state from the last regular session."

Great Falls Tribune

June 11, 2018

Lack of FundingAnthony BradleyJuly 30, 2018Great Falls Tribune, Montana

On the Defensive

"The right to legal counsel has long been the gold standard of American justice under the Constitution. But what happens when a state refuses to budget for public defenders? Louisiana is finding out."

The Atlantic

June 2, 2018

Lack of FundingAnthony BradleyJuly 30, 2018The Atlantic, Right to an Attorney, Louisiana

Louisiana public defender board reaches compromise on distributing scarce state funds fairly

"I don’t think you succeed in limiting jail population without addressing public defenders. If you want to get folks to jail fast, just don’t resource their defenders."

The Advocate

April 28, 2018

Lack of FundingAnthony BradleyJuly 30, 2018The Advocate, Louisiana, Funding