The country’s political class has been engaged in a rare bout of bipartisan self-congratulation of late over the growing consensus around the need for prison reform. Republican governors and state legislators who once championed lock ‘em up policies are now taking a softer line, citing the high cost of prisons and their personal belief in the power of redemption. And when Attorney General Eric Holder came out last week and instructed federal prosecutors to essentially ignore the letter of the law and start seeking shorter sentences for many offenders, there was nowhere close to the outcry one might have expected from the right.
Well, today Holder offered an oblique reminder that all of this good feeling around sentencing reform is pretty hollow unless something is done to restore funding to the nation’s federal public defender offices. Having prosecutors seek somewhat shorter prison sentences is all well and good, but first of all defendants need capable counsel, and our system is coming close to shirking that guarantee today, thanks to the indiscriminate cuts of budget sequestration.
Holder writes in the Washington Post:
Via: New RepublicIn stark contrast to many state defender programs, the federal public defender system has consistently served as a model for efficiency and success. According to court statistics, as many as 90 percent of federal defendants qualify for court-appointed counsel, and the majority of criminal cases prosecuted by the Justice Department involve defendants represented by well-qualified, hardworking attorneys from federal defender offices. Yet draconian cuts have forced layoffs, furloughs (averaging 15 days per staff member) and personnel reductions through attrition. Across the country, these cuts threaten the integrity of our criminal justice system and impede the ability of our dedicated professionals to ensure due process, provide fair outcomes and guarantee the constitutionally protected rights of every criminal defendant.
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