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What does a police murder have to do with public defense funding? Answer should be "nothing." But in Louisiana, it was everything. In 2016, Alton Sterling, a 37 y/o Black man, was shot dead by 2 police officers in East Baton Rouge. A short story:
Before COVID, Louisiana had already long undermined the right to counsel. Beyond chronic underfunding, Louisiana is the only state that forces those unable to afford lawyers to fund the majority of public defense off of fines & fees from their arrest, conviction, & incarceration.
In the best of times, relying on those too poor to afford an attorney to fund public defense is irrational & unfair. In the worst of times, it’s catastrophic. There's a history to this in Louisiana. Floods. Hurricanes. Pandemics.
Always hurt Black & Brown communities the most.
Always hurt Black & Brown communities the most.
Alton Sterling's killing sparked widespread protests and calls for justice & accountability, which lead to even more violence & clashes w/ police. Just one month later, Baton Rouge then endured catastrophic flooding, which caused unprecedented damage.
The floods & protests over Alton Sterling's killing lead to another devastating outcome. As police were removed from active duty to address the protests & natural disasters, traffic tickets were simply not written. In Louisiana, that meant that public defense was not funded.
The result of traffic tickets drying up: Public defender layoffs. Unfilled positions. Waiting lists of people in need of counsel. Public defenders w/ sky-high caseloads. Tens of millions of taxpayer dollars wasted on people jailed pretrial w/o an attorney to represent them.
Think about this. A racist police killing devastates the Black community in East Baton Rouge. And the result is not only more police violence during protests but the death of public defense, the frontline protective force to challenge police misconduct.
The result of traffic tickets drying up: Public defender layoffs. Unfilled positions. Waiting lists of people in need of counsel. Public defenders w/ sky-high caseloads. Tens of millions of taxpayer dollars wasted on people jailed pretrial w/o an attorney to represent them. More:
Four years later, East Baton Rouge defenders & the community they served were still struggling. Then COVID struck. History is repeating. The traffic tickets & court fines & fees public defense offices are forced to rely upon for funding--the “User Pay” system—have been depleted.
The situation is stark in East Baton Rouge. But it's stark all throughout Louisiana. There, defenders have no full-time investigators, cannot afford to fill 16 critical positions or provide cost of living raises to staff, and has long been plagued by layoffs & retention issues.
Now for the unfortunate twist. All of the above - the cruelty, thousands caged, vast under-resourcing of a constitutional right, injustice - was how public defense operated before COVID. Now funding is down 60%. And public defense could die.
Public defenders are needed now more than ever. Tochallenge police misconduct, save lives, provide counsel for those detained, & save taxpayers the waste of thousands locked in jail pretrial, uncounseled, waiting indefinitely for their case to resolve.
Just one public defender saved 1400 people the brutality of jail. Kept families together. Saved $millions. Louisiana must #enduserpay & fund public defense, instead of forcing those who are Constitutionally entitled to free legal services to pay for them. https://twitter.com/scotthech/status/1290853090313240576?s=21
Public defenders in Louisiana, their allies, & the people & communities they serve, have launched a campaign to break through the noise and ensure that saving public defense becomes a priority issue in the state. Take action here to #EndUserPay: http://ForTheSixth.org
