Public defenders deserve more than a $0 increase in Kenney’s budget

As we watched the confirmation hearing for soon-to-be Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, many of us were struck by how certain senators tried to use Judge Jackson’s experience as a public defender as an argument against her confirmation. Pundits and elected leaders nationwide rightfully decried her treatment by these senators as “disgraceful,” and many have pointed out that public defenders are critical to ensuring that all people, regardless of income, have their constitutional rights protected. That’s what makes Mayor Kenney’s budget proposal of $0 in additional funding to the Defender Association of Philadelphia so appalling.

If budgets are a statement of values, then the mayor’s proposal suggests that he doesn’t value public defenders or the tens of thousands of poor people, mostly people of color, in Philadelphia who rely on the representation and services they provide. For those of us who have worked as community and justice-system advocates, it’s troubling to see the Kenney administration respond to our city’s gun violence crisis by reverting to the tried-and-failed tactic of simply investing in more police officers.

Barbie Fischer, a restorative justice practitioner who founded Restorative Encounters, has experience working directly with both victims of violent crime and victims of our criminal legal system (often, they are one and the same and from the same neglected neighborhoods). She says that experience shows that more incarceration and punishment is not the answer to this very real crisis. Dumping more money into law enforcement — while ignoring our public defenders — is not funding a justice system, but a “punishment system” that won’t make our streets any safer.

Take, for example, the case of a firefighter arrested during the George Floyd protests in the summer of 2020, represented by the Defender Association and bailed out by the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund. If not for the efforts of the Bail Fund, this person would have spent up to two years in jail away from their family — all for charges that the district attorney ultimately dismissed. How does this advance public safety? In addition to providing representation for those who cannot afford cash bail, the Defender Association partners with community organizations like the Bail Fund to ensure that defendants get the support they need to live their lives while they wait, sometimes years, for their day in court.

» READ MORE: Ketanji Brown Jackson is now the only former public defender on Supreme Court. This matters. | Opinion

Funding the Defender Association means so much more than providing legal counsel. Public defenders are key to explaining the legal system to clients who are often overwhelmed by a system that has historically been stacked against them. Some of the most important work done by the Defender Association’s attorneys and social workers isn’t in the courtroom. It’s in one-on-one meetings with clients, most of them poor people of color. Many are young mothers at risk of losing their home, their jobs, and even their children.

Public defenders work with clients to learn the whole story — not just about the crimes they’re accused of, but the circumstances that led them to this point. As leader of the Germantown Participatory Defense Hub, Margaret Robertson has seen that addressing those underlying circumstances and connecting people to the help and services they need to stay out of jail is the key to safer communities. That’s why we see so many Defender Association employees working in our communities. They hold free criminal record expungement clinics and legal workshops in our community centers, schools, and barber shops; they attend our neighborhood meetings to educate our neighbors about legal system processes and procedures; and they meet with community organizations like ours to get firsthand accounts of what’s really going on in our neighborhoods.

The mayor’s budget is a proposal to invest in law enforcement and inevitably funnel more young people of color into the legal system, without ensuring that public defenders have the same resources. This will lead to more people crowding already unsafe county jails for longer periods of time. Those fortunate enough to be released will often find themselves — and their families — worse off than when they were arrested. That means more economic destabilization, more desperation, and yes, more crime.

The Defender Association is often, quite literally, the last line of defense most of our clients have against a criminal legal system more concerned with warehousing its citizens than helping them. If we’re serious about reducing violence and stabilizing our communities, let’s finally stop over-funding the enforcement and punitive aspects of the legal system. Adequately funding the Defender Association would go a long way toward restoring much-needed balance and creating a system that truly provides justice for all.

Dorsche Krevitz is Assistant Director of Client Services at Action Wellness. Candace McKinley is the lead organizer for the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund.