Slate — Public Defenders — 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.

The Census Case Shows Why We Need a Defender General

“A defender general’s office could serve precisely this function if it were afforded some independence—Booker’s bill would make it a nonprofit corporation—and if its mission were understood to go beyond criminal defense. We need a government-sponsored institution whose lawyers will stand up in court, and stand athwart DOJ lawyers, to articulate our country’s interests in the liberty of people subjected to government incarceration and detention, from prisons and jails to immigration detention.“

Slate

June 27, 2019

Improving RepresentationPhillip ReevesJune 27, 2019SlateComment

“We Don’t Know Because They Won’t Tell Us”

"What it’s like to be a federal public defender on the Texas border right now."

Slate

June 20, 2018

Public DefendersAnthony BradleyJuly 30, 2018Slate, Texas, Immigration

Public Defenders

Galsworthy CJR Program

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