To: Mayor Mitch Landrieu, New Orleans, LA 70112

Equal Justice: Fair Funding for New Orleans Public Defenders

Each year, thousands of men, women and children enter the Orleans Parish criminal justice system; 85% of them are appointed a public defender. Yet, the Orleans Public Defenders remains critically under-funded and out-resourced by other criminal justice stakeholders. To have a fair and just criminal justice system, the Orleans Public Defenders must be fully funded and parity established.

Why is this important?

To the New Orleans City Council and Mayor Landrieu:

Each year, thousands of men, women and children enter the Orleans Parish criminal justice system. 85% of them are appointed a public defender. Most are charged with nonviolent offenses and many enter the system with undiagnosed and untreated illnesses and addictions. All are supposed to be presumed innocent, however, two-thirds of all arrested remain imprisoned pre-trial – too poor to pay their bond.

The Orleans Public Defenders’ office (OPD) plays a critical role in protecting the rights and well-being of our community, reducing recidivism by connecting people to jobs and services, and ensuring our criminal justice system remains fair and just, especially for New Orleans' poorest and most vulnerable citizens.

Recent budget shortfalls threaten our community’s right to an open and honest, efficient and effective criminal justice system: OPD is facing a $1 million shortfall.

The current funding crisis is brought about in part from systemic, structural underfunding; budget cuts by the state; and declining local revenue. And while the City of New Orleans provides direct support for OPD, our appropriation is one-sixth of the support provided to the District Attorney’s office – and even less when compared to other criminal justice agencies. While OPD handles 85% of all criminal cases in New Orleans, OPD’s budget is about one-third the budget of the District Attorney’s office.

This present budget crisis is brought about entirely as a result of an unstable, unreliable and inadequate user-pay funding scheme that too heavily depends on fines and fees. In the absence of sustainable funding by both the city and the state, we will continue to face frequent budget shortfalls.

To create and maintain a public defense system that contributes to the goals of the city's criminal justice policy – reducing over-incarceration, connecting the poor and mentally ill with services and jobs, advocating for the rights of incarcerated people to receive services and treatment that will reduce recidivism – then the City of New Orleans must play a more significant part in funding public defense.

New Orleans can do better. New Orleans must do better if we are to continue the strides already made toward meaningful criminal justice reform. Please cast your vote in favor of a fully-funded public defender’s office.