Budget cuts and hardened opinions on crime sour public defenders

Only a few years ago, public defenders were riding high. New laws were making it easier for them to successfully defend their clients. A former public defender was district attorney in San Francisco and making changes that were viewed as more favorable to criminal defendants. In Los Angeles, the DA was making similar changes and peppering his administration with former deputy public defenders.

What a difference a couple of years make. With rising crime and homelessness, the public and lawmakers have soured on many of the changes the criminal defense community sought. And the state's dwindling coffers are bringing the threat of deep cuts to public defenders' offices.

Against this backdrop, the National Legal Aid and Defender Association met Monday for its annual Gideon Day, an event to mark the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's 1963 decision in Gideon v. Wainwright, which established the right to counsel for the criminally accused under the Sixth and 14th Amendments.

The mood was gloomy.

"California spends a billion dollars more -- a billion! -- on prosecution than on public defense," Alameda County Public Defender Brendon Woods said during an online panel discussion.

Woods rejected the notion that prosecutors should get more resources and better pay because they are the moving party and "do more." He said 85% of people facing charges rely on a public defender. Yet even in a "liberal" county like Alameda, there is a "25 to 1" spending disparity between the DA and public defender's offices, he said.

Among their gripes was Gov. Gavin Newsom's proposal to cut $50 million from a program that helps public defenders' offices petition for resentencing hearings for clients. Woods and San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju, who was also on the panel, have led a chorus of critics excoriating Newsom for cutting that program while spending more than half a billion to fight retail theft - a problem they claim is overblown.

In Washington, D.C., lawmakers have warned that the Federal Defender program will be forced to cut over 9% of its workforce under the Judicial Conference's proposed 2024-25 budget. State public defenders' offices in New York, North Carolina and elsewhere have also said they are facing cutbacks even as better funded prosecutors see budget increases.

Rabiah Alicia Burks, vice president of communication with the association and the panel's moderator, asked how public defenders should respond amid the current backlash, where much of the public is blaming criminal law changes for recent increases in crime.

"You have to go on offense," said Stan Germán, executive director of New York County Defender Services. "Defenders now engage with the media and write op-eds."

But even with public defenders taking a more overtly public role, said Alec Karakatsanis, founder and executive director of Civil Rights Corps, they are working at a disadvantage. Changes to sentencing laws and a new focus on police brutality have led to a taxpayer funded public relations push by law enforcement he called "cop-aganda."

For instance, Karakatsanis said, the Los Angeles police and sheriff's departments together employ 67 fulltime public relations people. The Chicago Police Department employs 50, he said, up from four in 2014 when an officer shot and killed 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.

"We don't even know what that information is for most cities," Karakatsanis added. "Most [police] departments don't report that line item in their budget."

If there is a bright side for public defenders, it may be a growing awareness among many Republicans and rural voters of the importance of these offices. He pointed to Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-North Dakota, who has led a group of Republicans in Congress fighting for more money for federal public defenders.

"There are large swaths of the country that just have a lack of legal representation," Iowa State Public Defender Jeff Wright said during the panel discussion. "It makes it incredibly difficult to recruit people to do public defense work. We're competing not only with prosecutors who can pay significantly more, but with other legal entities who generally have much easier work."

These comments led some other public defenders to wax poetic about the love-hate relationships they have with their profession.

"There is no better legal job," Germán said. "What do you get out of being a public defender? The ability to help people. You will be a better person."

"It is not an easy job," Woods said. "This job will crush your soul."