Guest Commentary: If You Care About Freedom, You Should Be Asking Why We Don’t Fund Our Public Defender Systems
Four out of five criminal defendants can’t afford a lawyer, but in many places, the system promised…
Looking Back: Our Two-Tiered Justice System
by Jeffrey Deskovic – Contrasts In Justice Between Rich And Poor – “Looking back” will feature reprints of articles that Jeff previously wrote while a columnist at The Westchester Guardian, which encompass topics that are applicable here in CA as well as across the country and not simply applicable to NY.
Everyday Injustice Episode 84: San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju
In February of 2019, longtime legendary public defender Jeff Adachi died. Taking over the position as the…
A Crisis for Indigent Defense in Massachusetts
By Vaidya Gullapalli Fifteen years ago, people arrested and charged in Hampden County, Massachusetts, but unable to…
Monday Morning Thoughts: Sanders Lays Out Plan for Massive Overhaul of Criminal Justice System
It was one of the shortcomings of his 2016 campaign, but it is a shortcoming no more…
Guest Commentary: America’s Public Defenders’ Offices Are Broken. Here’s How to Fix Them
By Kamala Harris As a former prosecutor and attorney general of California, I saw our legal system…
Our Government Has Failed to Defend the Sixth Amendment
By Kanya Bennett and Ezekiel Edwards On May 8, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) elevated the crisis of…
Ineffective Public Defense Under Fire
By Jason D. Williamson Innocent unless proven guilty… These words are the bedrock of our criminal justice…
Eye on the Courts: Problems of Race, Mental Illness Underlie Wrongful Convictions, Death Penalty
The protests and police shootings in Ferguson and Staten Island have focused on the disproportionate black and…