Washington Governor Declares March 18, 2017 Public Defense Day

This statement was released on March 9, 2017. WHEREAS, Washington State values every one of its inhabitants – rich and poor – and many individuals cannot afford to hire a lawyer; and   WHEREAS, this problem was addressed 54 years […]

Montgomery County (PA) Goes Big for Public Defense Week

This week our office celebrated National Public Defense Week in commemoration of the 54th Anniversary of Gideon v. Wainwright. On Monday, March 13th,the Montgomery County Public Defender Office in partnership with the Montgomery County District Attorney and the Pennsylvania Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) […]

Ensuring Justice for Children: Strategies this Baby Lawyer Learned the Hard Way

When I first started representing juveniles, I found myself coming back to the office defeated. I felt like I was failing my clients. Juvenile court remains this strange land where “caring” about accused children and “understanding” their traumatic histories means […]

Right and Just to Raise the Age of Criminal Accountability

This blog was originally published in the Times Union on March 6. 2017. It was co-authored by Tamara Steckler and Melissa Mark-Viverito. Melissa Mark-Viverito is the New York City Council speaker. Tami Steckler is attorney-in-charge of the juvenile rights practice at […]

Fighting Racial Injustice in the Courtroom

If government counsel in a criminal suit is allowed to inflame the jurors by irrelevantly arousing their deepest prejudices, the jury may become in his hands a lethal weapon directed against defendants who may be innocent.  He should not be […]

Pierce the Veil of Racism

San Francisco is in the midst of an unprecedented spate of car break ins: more than 26,500 reported in 2016, up from just 10,400 in 2011, which makes San Francisco the leader in the country, per capita, in car break […]

White Privilege

In 8th grade, a girl named Patricia attended our Catholic, all white grade school.  She was beautiful; her Mom was American Indian, her father African American.  She had eyes like Bambi.  I wanted to befriend her but she seemed very […]

Death Penalty Mitigation: Humanizing the Hatred

Humanizing a seeming monster isn’t easy.  It cannot be accomplished simply by attempting to weigh the good acts or the bad childhood actions of the accused against the horror of their crime.  When you try that, you slip perilously close […]

Righteous Cause: Fight to End the Death Penalty

For my first ten years as a deputy public defender the fight to abolish capital punishment was not my fight.  It should have been but it wasn’t.  Although always firmly against the death penalty, in my mind the movement was […]

Victory! Fees Unconstitutional Under Separation of Powers

The case of Orlando Salinas v Texas began 5 years ago.  I challenged in the trial court the imposition of court costs that were wholly unrelated to the court system. The theory was that this violated the separation of powers […]