California neglects constitutional duty to defend poor people | Opinion

California’s public defense system is buckling under the weight of chronic underfunding and neglect. More than a century after Los Angeles County opened the nation’s first public defender’s office in 1913, California is now one of only two states without a statewide public defense commission and provides virtually no state funding for trial-level defense.

Cash-strapped counties are forced to shoulder the cost of funding public defense on their own, resulting in unconstitutional disparities in representation. Unfunded legislative mandates and voter initiatives, such as Proposition 36, have further strained county resources, requiring public defenders to take on additional responsibilities without the financial support needed to do the work.

California cannot afford to continue neglecting this crisis.

A new report commissioned by the Legislature under Assembly Bill 625, California Public Defense Workloads and Staffing, confirms what multi-million-dollar lawsuits, grand juries and prior studies have already shown: California is failing to meet its constitutional obligation to provide counsel for the poor. Over two years, researchers conducted exhaustive in-person site visits in nine counties — large and small, urban and rural — and spoke with attorneys, investigators, social workers and former clients.

Public defenders across the state describe their caseloads as “crushing” and “overwhelming,” far above national standards. Most public defender offices operate with 20% to 45% fewer attorneys than prosecutors, and none of the 33 surveyed counties meet minimum staffing standards for investigators or social workers.

Some offices are forced to refuse new cases because they cannot meet the basic ethical duties of representation. In the instance that an office declines to represent a defendant, the next tier of the public defense system will assign an attorney. In most cases, that means the system will rely on private attorneys who contract with the county to provide legal representation when the institutional or existing contract system cannot.

Meanwhile, California spends 77% more on prosecution, employing over 1,000 more lawyers and 3,700 more support staff in district attorneys’ offices.

In rural communities, where salaries lag far behind living costs, the crisis is especially dire. Many counties struggle to recruit and retain qualified attorneys. Californians languish in jail, accept plea deals they shouldn’t and face wrongful convictions because their attorneys lack the time or resources to investigate and effectively litigate their cases.

This is not a new revelation. It reflects a decades-long pattern of neglect.

In 2008, a statewide commission of law enforcement and defense stakeholders, including former Gov. Jerry Brown, recommended a system overhaul. In 2016, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued Fresno County and the State of California over systemic failures. In 2022, the Legislative Analyst’s Office warned that the state lacked even basic data to measure the quality of indigent defense.

Just this year, a report from the ACLU and the Wren Collective found that many California counties continue to rely on low-bid, flat-fee contract systems — an arrangement outlawed in other states because it creates a conflict of interest and erodes the right to effective assistance of counsel.

Other large states have responded to similar crises by creating statewide commissions and providing consistent funding. New York, Michigan and Texas all acted after lawsuits exposed the same structural deficits California faces today. Yet Sacramento remains silent, content to study the problem while attorneys burn out and communities suffer.

Six years ago, California courts warned that the state cannot simply abandon its responsibility to its citizens by pushing the financial costs of public defense onto counties. Nevertheless, our state government continues to wash its hands of what happens in its criminal courts, underwriting prosecution while forcing resource limited counties and the poor communities they serve to fend for themselves.

California prides itself on being a national leader in justice reform. Yet when it comes to defending the poor, it is a national outlier — and the consequences are playing out in courtrooms and jail cells every day.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and progressive legislators have repeatedly proclaimed a commitment to ending the school-to-prison pipeline and fixing a broken criminal justice system. It is logically disingenuous to make those claims while simultaneously ignoring California’s public defense system, especially when public defenders represent most citizens charged with crimes. This contradiction must end.

The Legislature can no longer neglect county public defense systems simply because it has done so since 1913. Lawmakers must create a statewide public defense commission with real authority to set standards, assess needs and require accountability. And the state must finally provide sufficient funding to close the vast resource gap between prosecutors and public defenders so that courtroom outcomes reflect evidence and fairness — not wealth or ZIP code.

California’s leaders cannot continue to claim moral leadership while presiding over a constitutional failure of their own making. The right to counsel is not optional: Every day the state refuses to act, thousands of Californians are effectively denied that right.

Tracy Macuga is chief public defender of Santa Barbara County.