What is the state of the Justice system in Louisiana? State Supreme Court Chief Justice Bernette Johnson updated both chambers of the Legislature in a joint meeting Tuesday.
“We’re aware of the budget crisis facing this state.”
The spending cuts to deal with that crisis are raising concerns for the Judiciary, especially when it comes to public defenders.
“Approximately eighty-five percent of all criminal defendants are represented by public defenders and it is our constitutional obligation to provide adequate representation. We cannot try felony cases, cases where folks are subject to imprisonment at hard labor, without them having an attorney,” says Johnson.
Since 1963’s Gideon v Wainwright decision, states have been required to provide and fund public defenders. But as state funds have dwindled, public defenders offices are struggling to continue representing their clients.
“Thirty-three of the state’s forty-two judicial districts are presently operating under a restriction of services," explains Johnson, "and they predict that half the public defender offices in the state will be insolvent within months.”
The Plaquemines Parish Public Defenders Office closed indefinitely in February due to lack of funds. In Orleans Parish, some clients are being placed on a waitlist before being assigned representation. And prison beds are filling up with folks waiting for trial.
“Public safety is undermined when space is used for low-level offenders rather than serious offenders. The ones not able to post bail, usually with regard to low level crimes, they’re being held in jail simply because of their poverty and their inability to pay,” says Johnson.
Louisiana’s incarceration rate leads the nation, with one in every eighty-six adults in prison. Which leads Johnson to consider, “if we’re number one in locking people up and we’re number one in terms of poverty, maybe there’s a connection there.”