Blog from the Justice Programs Office
The Right to Counsel National Campaign (R2C) is a public awareness initiative that uses value-based communication tactics to inform policymakers, criminal justice stakeholders, and the public about the importance of carrying out the Sixth Amendment’s right to counsel, the ways in which this right is not being implemented, the roles everyone from law enforcement officers to prosecutors to judges and court managers can play in ensuring that the constitutional right to counsel is upheld, and how to reform the public defense system with low-cost or no-cost policy solutions. R2C also seeks to elevate the defender voice in criminal justice reform conversations and provides new opportunities for citizens to become engaged advocates, ensuring effective public defense delivery systems in all courts across the country.
West Virginia’s House of Delegates votes to impeach all four Supreme Court justices, indigent families must pay for their child’s attorney in most states, Orleans Parish Juvenile Court becomes the first jurisdiction in the South to end the assessment and collection of discretionary juvenile fees, and L.A. County hasn’t had a public defender in two years and just appointed one. These stories and much more below in the latest Friday News Roundup.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio signs bill into law making jail phone calls free, Kendall County graduates first class of drug court participants, and a Louisiana judge rules Orleans Parish bail structure is unconstitutional. All these stories and much more below in the latest Friday News Roundup.
A new Canadian study shows chances of dying tripled for those not taking methadone to treat opioid addiction, Florida’s juvenile justice chief steps down, and the Los Angeles County Public Defenders office unionizes. These stories and much more in the latest edition of the Friday News Roundup.
My role at the Justice Programs Office (JPO) is to be heard but rarely seen. I am not asked to go to conferences and present on the constitutional right to counsel. I am certainly not going out into the field to provide training and technical assistance to adult and juvenile treatment courts. But you have probably seen my Friday News Roundup or read my social media posts. I liken my role at JPO to a spotlight. I use my writing abilities and communications knowledge to shine a light on the fantastic work that JPO does and on the talented people that work here.
Do you remember where you learned about the guarantees of our Constitution? Was it in sixth grade civics class like it was for me? My daughter Claire, who is 11, is going into sixth grade this fall, and I’m curious about whether or not she’s going to be taught about the Constitution and, specifically, about the Sixth Amendment’s right to counsel. Continue reading “Let’s Talk about the Constitution”
A New York judge rules counties may sue opioid distributors, The Massachusetts Supreme Court agrees that judges can jail those who violate probation by using drugs, and Spokane’s public defenders are trying out a new and cheap way to remind their clients of trial dates. All of these stories and more in the latest edition of the Friday News Roundup.
President Trump nominates Brett Kavanaugh for Supreme Court, New review reveals gaps in education opportunities at juvenile justice schools across the United States, and a report by the National Association for Law Placement reveals that median pay for public defenders only modestly rising. These stories and much more in the JPO Friday News Roundup.
Pennsylvania Governor signs bill to automatically seal criminal records for low-level offenders, reforms reducing cash bail in Maryland actually increasing number of those held without bail, and inconsistent veterans treatment court coverage exists in New York despite expansion. All of these stories and much more in the latest edition of the Friday News Roundup.
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announces plan to retire on July 31, Juvenile justice reforms in Connecticut are making an impact, and a study of New York bail by FiveThirtyEight shows that it may all depend on who your judge is. These stories and much more in the latest edition of the Friday News Roundup.
Continue reading “Friday News Roundup: June 29, 2018”
My colleagues here at the Justice Programs Office (JPO) will cringe when they see this, but I sometimes hear clips from the old TV show “Law & Order” when we talk about the right to counsel. Bear with me, please, but for a long time I thought Miranda warnings and the right to counsel were synonymous. And though I now know that not to be true, when we have these conversations I still can’t help but hear the echo of so many detectives in so many episodes saying, “You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you.” Law & Order was my grandmother’s favorite show—she loved Lennie Briscoe—and I spent a lot of time watching it with her as a teenager. One of the consequences of hearing law enforcement officers on TV tell every person they arrest that they have the right to an attorney and that one will be provided if need be is that I—and, I suspect, many others—think that’s how the American justice system works. Every person accused of a crime has access to defense counsel.