NYC Gazette

‘Providing a Quality Defense Act’ Would Improve Access to Quality Legal Defense Counsel

Public Defense System Understaffed, Underfunded, Overwhelmed for Decades

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Dan Goldman (NY-10) joined Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (TX-30) and Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) in introducing the ‘Providing a Quality Defense Act.’ This legislation would ensure that all Americans receive their constitutional right to a quality attorney by addressing the nationwide shortage of public defenders and improving pay for public defenders. Four out of five criminal defendants do not have the means to pay for a lawyer themselves and must rely on public defenders. Public defenders often make tens of thousands of dollars less than prosecutors, and significantly less than other lawyers.

“As a former federal prosecutor, I know that robust support for public defenders is critical to ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system,” Congressman Dan Goldman said. “The constitution requires that every American have access to quality legal counsel, and that starts with public defense. We are suffering from a nationwide shortage of public defenders, it is our duty to ensure quality legal defense for all accused of crimes.”

Last year, New York City’s largest provider of criminal and civil services for indigent clients lost 10 percent of its staff in one year with other organizations losing as much as 40 percent of staff.

The nationwide public defender shortage contributes heavily to the country’s criminal justice crisis, particularly in low-income communities. Due to a lack of resources in public defenders’ offices, innocent people can spend months or years in jail, waiting for overworked public defenders to get to their case.

The Providing a Quality Defense Act would establish a grant program for public defense offices to hire public defenders or panel attorneys, case workers, social workers, investigators, or paralegals. These grants could also be used to achieve pay parity for public defenders or panel attorneys with prosecutors’ offices.

This legislation would also establish grants for educational programs for public defenders, including for ongoing training and support and would provide grant funds to public defense offices to establish loan repayment assistance programs for public defenders.

Additionally, the Providing a Quality Defense Act would direct the Attorney General to develop best practices and recommendations for public defenders’ caseloads and for the compensation of public defenders and would allow states to report data about criminal cases heard by courts to the Attorney General for the purpose of developing best practices.

Original source can be found here.