Public defenders lost to budget cuts
Thursday, May 22, 2008 at 10:11 am
- 2 Comments
Public defenders, the lawyers appointed to represent the poorest Minnesotans in criminal court, have taken another budget cut this year. The Board of Public Defense will take a $1.5 million hit in the budget deal reached between the Legislature and Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a cut that will result in 98 fewer attorneys and a deficit of $4.7 million.
Public defenders are a constitutional right, particularly for those charged with a crime who cannot afford representation. During an arrest, the officer typically states, “You have the right to have an attorney present during questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you free of charge.”
But as numbers of public defenders shrink and their caseloads increase, how effective can that representation be? According to Barbara Jones at the Minnesota Lawyer blog, these budget cuts will reduce their full time staff by 14.5 percent. Public defenders are already stretched thin and working caseloads higher than 900, which is more than twice the limit set by the American Bar Association.
It’s not the first time the “No New Taxes” pledge has encroached on Minnesotans’ constitutional rights. In 2003, Republicans pushed for and Pawlenty signed a law that charged a fee to the poorest of the poor when they were appointed an attorney: $50 for a misdemeanor, $100 for a gross misdemeanor and $200 for a felony. The fee was instituted to make up for cuts to Minnesota’s public defenders.
The Minnesota Supreme Court found that fee structure to be an unconstitutional barrier to the right to representation.
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Comment posted May 22, 2008 @ 10:18 pm
Classic GOP move… now county taxpayers will fit the bill I was stunned by this move by the state legislature when I heard about it. First off, it’s a classic move by the GOP: Take more services away from indigent citizens to save from raising taxes, or having the wealthy pay their fair share of a civilized society. First it was welfare, then it was healthcare for the poor, and now they cut legal services.
I can’t believe the DFL let them get away with it.
These people, who are presumed innocent, will find themselves locked in a legal system that has neither the time, nor the money, to meet their mandated CONSTITUTIONAL NEEDS. I really don’t know how our legislature and governor can sleep at night. They must be told to fund this expense, or suffer the consequences of watching good employees leave the system for good, and citizens harmed.
Now then, there are few things occurring in St. Paul these days that I don’t envision to be a tax shift to cities and counties. If you look deep, cutting the public defenders from the state payroll will have a deep impact. How? When an increasing number of the “accused” eventually find themselves “convicted,” they will be made to serve time in COUNTY jails. That means local taxpayers will fit that ever increasing bill. Even more importantly is the impact on a growing number of rural Minnesota counties being made by the Department of Corrections to construct newer, bigger and expensive jails. Those jails being built to handle predicted future crime levels will find themselves filled to capasity decades before they were supposed to.
And who pays? You and me: the local taxpayer.
All our senators and representitives should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen on their watches.
Comment posted May 22, 2008 @ 5:18 pm
Classic GOP move… now county taxpayers will fit the bill I was stunned by this move by the state legislature when I heard about it. First off, it's a classic move by the GOP: Take more services away from indigent citizens to save from raising taxes, or having the wealthy pay their fair share of a civilized society. First it was welfare, then it was healthcare for the poor, and now they cut legal services.
I can't believe the DFL let them get away with it.
These people, who are presumed innocent, will find themselves locked in a legal system that has neither the time, nor the money, to meet their mandated CONSTITUTIONAL NEEDS. I really don't know how our legislature and governor can sleep at night. They must be told to fund this expense, or suffer the consequences of watching good employees leave the system for good, and citizens harmed.
Now then, there are few things occurring in St. Paul these days that I don't envision to be a tax shift to cities and counties. If you look deep, cutting the public defenders from the state payroll will have a deep impact. How? When an increasing number of the “accused” eventually find themselves “convicted,” they will be made to serve time in COUNTY jails. That means local taxpayers will fit that ever increasing bill. Even more importantly is the impact on a growing number of rural Minnesota counties being made by the Department of Corrections to construct newer, bigger and expensive jails. Those jails being built to handle predicted future crime levels will find themselves filled to capasity decades before they were supposed to.
And who pays? You and me: the local taxpayer.
All our senators and representitives should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen on their watches.
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