Published: February 05, 2010 01:53 pm      

Overburdened — 02/06/10

Kentucky cannot afford fewer funds for public defenders

With legislators struggling to cut state spending by more than $1 billion, the odds of the state Department of Public Advocacy receiving more money are not promising.

However, Ed Monahan, the director of the department that oversees public defenders, certainly made a convincing argument for the need for additional funding during an appearance Tuesday before a House budget subcommittee. At the very least, Monahan said, his department cannot withstand the additional cuts called for in Gov. Steve Beshear’s proposed budget. The budget includes more than $750 million in revenue from slot machines at race tracks, and idea that legislators have nixed.

While public defenders may be meeting the minimum requirements by providing their indigent clients with legal representation, no one pretends that the public defenders have the time to adequately represent their clients. Many public defenders do not even meet their clients until just moments before their court appearance.

“Our caseload (per attorney) is now 450 and that’s still more than any lawyer can competently handle,” Monahan told the subcommittee. “Sometimes there’s not enough time to even talk to the client.”

DPA handles 147,000 cases on a budget this year of $44.7 million, spending roughly $208 on each trial, said Monahan, adding that he doubted any of the attorneys on the committee would be willing to try a case for that amount. Yet, Gov. Steve Beshear’s proposed budget recommends less in each of the two coming years for DPA, $44.3 million in FY 2011 and $43.9 in FY 2012.

With legislators having to cut the proposed revenue from slots at race tracks from the governor’s proposed budget, the chances of the DPA getting even less increase.

Providing adequate legal counsel for indigents charged with crimes has never been a high priority item for legislators, and for a legislator to advocate more money for public defenders is not likely to win that senator or representative many votes and may even cost him or her a few votes. Yet, Monahan is right when he says the right to competent counsel for defendants was crucial to an effective criminal justice system. Even those poor clients who are guilty as charged — as many are — need an attorney to help assure that the punishment they receive is fair.

Monahan also said a pilot program of social workers in two DPA offices has been so successful that it should be expanded, instead of eliminated. The social workers arrange alternative sentencing for non-violent offenders with drug and mental health problems and their work in the two counties has saved the state the cost of incarceration, now an average of $19,000 a year for each inmate. Just as important, the recidivism rate for those who receive treatment instead of jail time is half of that for those sent to jail, Monahan said.

At the very least, a public defender should be able to pick his or her clients out of a line-up, but with more than 450 clients at a time, many can’t even do that. There are many skilled, dedicated public defenders in Kentucky who labor long hours for little pay, but the immensity of their case load makes it impossible for them to do their jobs. Until that changes, an important part of the criminal justice system will remain broken.