Public defenders should be part of the conversation about public safety

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There are many people who have proposed solutions to crime in Louisiana, but there’s an important voice being left out of the conversation around public safety: Public defenders.

The solutions to crime almost always seem to stem from the idea of locking up as many people as possible — and disproportionately, those people are Black and Brown. Louisiana jails more people per capita than any other place in the world, and our streets are no safer because of it. It is beyond time to look to new solutions and agencies such as the office of the public defender to advance community safety.

Every day, we work directly with people facing the worst days of their lives, and are an integral part of the criminal legal system. And yet when it comes time to discuss ways to improve public safety, there’s almost never any thought toward including public defenders in that conversation.

And we’re responsible for defending the vast majority of people charged with crimes. Nationally, public defenders represent more than 80% of people charged with crimes, but here in Louisiana, it’s more than 90% — more than 142,000 people every year .

Despite being chronically underfunded, the public defender’s office tries to meet the needs of our clients from a holistic approach — not just mounting a good defense for the charges they’re facing, but trying to ensure their basic needs are met so that they don’t end up back in the system. We enlist the help of a range of professionals including social workers, client advocates and investigators to try to meet the needs of our clients.

Too often, people are interacting with the police and courts when what they actually need is support or intervention from their community.

Legislators should know the impact of the laws they’re writing and voting on —- because often, in the name of lowering crime, we’re actually leaving people behind.

As a former public defender, I’ve seen people charged with crimes simply because their basic needs were not met — people who needed food, water, clothing or school supplies, and were stealing to get those items. I’ve also seen many people struggling with either a mental health issue or substance abuse problem, who were arrested and imprisoned instead of finding the treatment they desperately needed.

We also see people who don’t know their rights and even confess to things they did not do. Of course, once you’ve been arrested or spent time incarcerated, it follows you forever, impacting your ability to get a job and provide people the income they need to support themselves. Louisiana is a state that’s particularly challenging for formerly incarcerated people — with more than 900 employment-related collateral consequences in our laws.

Public defenders are the only part of the criminal legal system that works to understand the root causes of crime in our communities, and tries to prevent it. We get to know the person, their stories, and what brought them to the system. We’re the holders of people’s stories, and we don’t take that responsibility lightly. It is a public defender’s duty and responsibility to advocate for every person we come in contact with.

I often think about what we could do if we had the support to find out what our clients need before they actually get to us—not just from our legislators but from our communities, too.

Reverting back to oppressive, tough on crime policies and locking up more and more of our communities is not the answer. Investing resources into the community is what makes people safer. Funding housing, jobs, public health and opportunities for our youth will make us safer.

If public defenders had the funding and resources to offer the holistic help our clients really need, we would have a safer Louisiana and a safer nation.

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