Some public defender offices in rural California are in dire need of lawyers

Across rural California, the right to counsel is threatened. In recent years there has been a significant decrease in the number of law students entering the field of public defense, especially in rural counties. This should concern not just our rural neighbors but every one of us who believes that equality, fairness and access to counsel should not be based on geography.

In Imperial County, two-thirds of the attorney positions at the Public Defender's office are vacant, leaving only six attorneys where there should be 18. Tuolumne County's primary Public Defender's office has struggled to fill their positions after two attorneys were appointed to the bench. It currently has only one attorney where there should be four, leaving that one attorney to handle the bulk of the 2,085 cases filed annually. And these offices are not unique, virtually every rural county has been facing struggles with recruiting public defenders.

Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, interpreting the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution 60 years ago in Gideon v. Wainwright declared that "any person haled into court, who is too poor to hire a lawyer, cannot be assured a fair trial unless counsel is provided for him." The phrase "you have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford one, one will be provided for you" is the staple of tv dramas and good guy/bad guy cop movies. But to effectuate the promise of our Constitution, there must be a sufficient number of lawyers to do the work.

Having been a public defender in Alameda County for more than 16 years, I know firsthand how dependent people are on their lawyers for their legal rights. Having an effective attorney who is supported by a well-staffed public defender's office can mean the difference between a person losing their job, their home, their children, their mental stability, their health and their freedom. Individuals facing any time in prison must have an attorney who has the support and bandwidth to investigate their case, interview witnesses, review body camera footage, communicate with their families, and ensure that police, prosecutors and judges are playing by the rules. That creates at least the possibility of people getting a chance at justice.

Today, I work at the Office of the State Public Defender where I partner with rural counties to build the capacity of public defense systems. The lack of attorneys, infrastructure and funding towards public defense, particularly in rural California, is deeply concerning. Unless counties invest in creating healthy and vibrant well-funded public defender offices, caseloads balloon and defenders leave, leaving courts, communities and clients to feel the impact.

Although there are many factors that account for incarceration rates, counties without well-funded institutional public defender offices often correlate with higher incarceration rates. According to organizations such as the Prison Policy Institute and Vera Institute, rural counties in California have some of the highest incarceration rates in the state, meaning they send more people per capita to prison and jail than their urban neighbors even though their crime rates are comparable or lower. For example, Trinity, Modoc, Tehama, Yuba, and Lassen are counties without institutional public defender offices that also have some of the highest incarceration rates in California. Each of those counties has roughly one active attorney per 1,000 county residents according to data from the California State Bar and U.S. Census, some of the lowest numbers in our state. Compare that with San Francisco, which has 24 attorneys for every 1,000 residents. Far north regions are not the only places in California that have prosecutor's offices but no public defender offices. Twenty-five counties in California do not have institutional public defender offices and virtually all of them are rural. Instead of ensuring a fair counterweight to the district attorney office, these counties contract with individual attorneys or for-profit entities to provide their defense services. These independent contractors are often provided a flat fee to represent an unlimited number of clients, leaving one attorney to handle literally hundreds of cases all by themselves with no training, support or oversight.

We can all do more to help with this crisis. The Office of the State Public Defender has recently started an internship program placing law students in rural public defender offices for the summer, but California leaders and the legal community must take steps to ensure that there are attorneys to protect people's rights in all 58 counties. Policymakers can adopt ideas that have been used in public health systems and create loan forgiveness programs and bridge funding for new lawyers who choose to work as public defenders in rural communities. County leaders must prioritize paying public defenders a competitive wage and fund enough attorney positions to ensure that caseloads are not overwhelming. They need to provide other resources, such as offices, support staff, computers and training to attract and retain attorneys in the same way they pay for their prosecutors. Private law firms can do their part too by partnering with rural offices to provide pro bono support and by sponsoring scholarships for law students who become public defenders in rural communities. Law schools and professors can encourage students to give back to the people of our state by becoming public defenders outside of urban areas. Students don't have to go to rural Mississippi to fight mass incarceration, the Central Valley would suffice.

The poor and incarcerated in rural communities across the United States struggle to get a fair shake at constitutional protections and legal representation. But in California, we cannot abide by the current status quo, or we risk going back sixty years in legal jurisprudence, pre-Gideon, where if you don't have money, you don't have a lawyer and don't stand a chance.