Last month I devoted my column to bills
that the Virginia General Assembly could pass to improve life for our residents
and make Virginia a better, more affordable place to work, live and safely
raise a family. Passing new laws are an important part of what we do. The most
important bill we consider, and the one to which the most time and resources
are devoted is the State Budget.
The Commonwealth of Virginia operates on a
biennial budget proposed by the Governor and adopted by the General Assembly
every other year during our “long” 60-day session. Since our Governors are term-limited to a
single 4-year stint, they are generally sworn in a day after their predecessor
introduces a new State Budget.
This January, though, the Governor will have his one and only opportunity to introduce his own budget, developed with the input of his staff members, agency heads and the Cabinet Members he appointed at the beginning of his term. He’ll also be able to shepherd it through the legislative process while he continues to have the leverage of his Veto pen in hand.
This is the opportunity the Governor has
to craft a budget that is a statement of his values and priorities, hopefully
with the support of a like-minded General Assembly.
This is an opportunity for the Governor to
invest in Higher Education, Transportation Infrastructure, Affordable Housing
and other important priorities.
One area of the budget that doesn’t get as
much attention is one where a relatively modest increase in funding could do
immeasurable good for one of my priority issues, Criminal Justice Reform.
Earlier this month, I met with local
Public Defenders and officials from the Virginia Indigent Defense
Commission. During the meeting, they
told me the most impactful criminal justice reform the General Assembly could
take in the upcoming session is to adequately fund indigent defense in
Virginia.
The Virginia Indigent Defense Commission
(VIDC) is the state agency tasked with protecting the most vulnerable members
of our community, those accused of a criminal offense and who are unable to
afford counsel.
The VIDC operates 25 Public Defender (PD)
offices across the Commonwealth in furtherance of their mission to protect and
defend “the rights and dignity of their clients through zealous, compassionate,
high-quality legal advocacy.” Each office has a Chief Public Defender, a Deputy
Public Defender, and Assistant Public Defenders. The number of Assistant Public
Defenders depends on the size of the jurisdiction.
Despite much higher attorney workloads as
a result of an increase in the number and needs of seriously mentally ill
clients, greater travel due to the increased use of remote regional detention
centers, and voluminous (often electronic or forensic) evidence, including body
worn cameras (BWC), the General Assembly has not authorized any new attorney
positions for these public defender offices in over a decade.
The Brennan Center for Justice recently
released a report documenting the impact of underfunding indigent defense on
the criminal justice system including mass incarceration that noted “the fiscal
cost of indigent defense reform is not nearly as high when one accounts for the
savings it can bring. Issues exacerbated by defender resource disparity -
pretrial incarceration, overly long sentences, wrongful convictions - are
extremely expensive.”
Of course, these issues affect prosecutors’
offices as well. The difference is,
we’ve been increasing attorney staffing in the Commonwealth Attorney’s office
substantially over the last ten years. As a result, it’s not uncommon for a
local Public Defender Office to have half the number attorneys as the local
prosecutor. Just since 2016, there have been ten new prosecutor positions added
in Fairfax County to address the issues described above. Again, no new attorney
positions in Public Defender offices.
This disparity is another driver of increases
in workload for Public Defenders, as many of those new prosecutor positions
come with the expectation that there will be increased prosecution of a particular
type of case or area.
Increasing funding for indigent defense
will improve outcomes for the wrongfully accused, those suffering from mental
illness, and for offenders working to re-enter society and return to their
communities as productive and contributing citizens. This enhances public
safety for everyone, while reducing so many of the ill effects of mass
incarceration.
To that end, I look forward to receiving
the Governor’s budget this winter and working with him to enhance the quality
of life for all Virginians.