While many former prosecutors for the federal government have served on the High Court, there has never been a public defender. Appointing DC Circuit Judge and former public defender Ketanji Brown Jackson would add the perspective of someone who understands the legal problems of people who cannot afford to pay a lawyer, writes the executive director of Partners for Justice.
Browsing: Public Defenders
Traditionally, presidents have picked former prosecutors and corporate lawyers for top judgeships. President Biden has changed the trajectory, with a record 17 appointments of public defenders to the federal judiciary so far. If we want a more well-rounded system, he shouldn’t stop there, write three leaders in the prosecution reform movement.
Serving in a special public interest legal corps for poor communities would replace the traditional bar exam for law school graduates under a proposal developed by legal scholars at Touro College.
Although former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted in the death of George Floyd, he had access to superb legal counsel thanks to financial support from his police union. That privilege isn’t shared by most poor defendants, for whom Supreme Court guarantees of indigent defense are a mockery, writes a Texas inmate from his own experience.
Due to a lack of preparedness in the legal world, many lawyers and their clients are battling to make sure their communications stay between them — and away from the eyes and ears of hackers domestically and abroad, a new NYCLU report details.
Panelists at an Institute for Innovation in Prosecution webinar Thursday criticized the justice system for its failure to address violent crime and its “social construction” of violence. One advocate said that even progressive prosecutors fall short of tackling the system’s institutional racism.
A recent legal settlement that won compensation for indigents denied the right to legal counsel in two South Carolina jurisdictions could ensure Sixth Amendment protections in municipal proceedings across the state—and elsewhere, argues one of the ACLU lawyers involved in the case.
Travis County, Tex., is actively working to lose its distinction as the largest local jurisdiction without a public defender. First it must overcome objections from bench and bar over protecting private defense lawyers’ role.
Prosecutors’ pursuit of convictions at any cost and public defenders’ insufficient resources have too often combined to thwart defendants’ chances of a fair trial. Here’s an alternative approach proposed by Miami’s public defender and a former deputy assistant attorney general.
Militant defense is a prerequisite in today’s justice system. But just as important is the capacity for patience and empathy—qualities that TCR’s columnist calls “resiliency.”