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An innovative relationship-based approach
is generating results in the area of
criminal defense for the poor
BY AMY UELMEN
Looking at the host of problems surrounding legal representation for the poor who have been charged with a crime, there seems to be little hope. It is not so much because their legal rights are undefined. As the United States Supreme Court decided in 1963, the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires states to provide counsel to indigent defendants charged with serious crimes.
It is not even because the legal system fails to recognize how important it is to assure adequate defense for the poor. “If we do not adequately support criminal defense for poor Americans,” as former attorney general Janet Reno stated in a national report on indigent defense, 1 “people will think that you can only get justice if you can afford to pay a lawyer. This perception would undermine confidence in our system.” Similarly, law enforcement also has a strong interest in insuring adequate defense for the indigent. As Reno explained, “Skimping on adequate representation also hurts effective law enforcement by creating delays and leading to the reversal of convictions on appeal.”
The heart of the problem is in the practical implementation. Extraordinarily heavy caseloads, severe under-funding and general political hostility to increased support for criminal defense, often make this constitutional protection illusory. In one extreme example, in 1992 the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upheld George McFarland's death sentence, even though his lawyer slept through much of his trial. The trial judge had quipped: “The Constitution doesn't say the lawyer has to be awake.” In 1998, detainees in Fulton County, Georgia often languished in jail for over a year waiting to be indicted for simple crimes such as burglary. In one California county in 1999, a single attorney was responsible for handling all misdemeanors—over 3,500, as compared with the cap of 400 recommended under national standards. When it comes to criminal defense for the indigent, we are facing what Fordham University law professor Bruce Green described as a “national epidemic of neglect.”
Given this background, it is all the more remarkable to see the statistics on the Georgia Justice Project, an innovative approach to indigent criminal defense. For the years 2000-2002, only 8% of its clients were incarcerated, as compared with more than 70% for urban public defender offices. In the years following the representation, less than 19% of its clients return to the criminal justice system, as compared with the 67.5% national average. Its dismissal and acquittal rates are twice the national average. Former Deputy United States Attorney General Larry Thompson has described the project's success as “stunning.” 2 From the statistics it appears that the attorneys are paying close attention not only to their cases, but also to their clients.
What is the secret of the project's success? Its webpage self-portrait immediately catches the eye: “We are an unlikely mix of lawyers, social workers and a landscaping company. We defend people accused of crimes and, win or lose, we stand with our clients as they rebuild their lives. This is the only way to break the cycle of crime and poverty.”
Because the Georgia Justice Project is privately funded, they are able to be selective. Through an intensive interviewing process, they select clients who are in serious trouble, who cannot afford to pay an attorney, and—most important—who will make a serious commitment to use their encounter with the law as an opportunity to change their lives. As lawyer and executive director Doug Ammar described in a recent article in the Fordham Urban Law Journal, “This helps ensure that they move beyond the social, emotional, and personal challenges that may have contributed to their legal problems.” To qualify for long-term help, clients sign a probationary contract which could include satisfying conditions such as drug treatment, job training, a high school equivalency exam, or an anger-management course. Often the progress made be fore the case comes to trial becomes a chance to demonstrate one's commitment to change, and proves decisive for success in the legal process itself—at times even resulting in dismissal of the case.
Caseloads are kept small—attorneys team up with social workers to handle no more than 15-20 cases at any given time, and no more than 100 per year. In this way they have time not only to pay close attention to the legal aspects of each case, but also to develop and nurture relationships with each client so as to better understand their social, emotional and mental health background. As a result, the legal crisis often leads to deeper healing and becomes a bridge which helps clients to reconnect with their families, further their education, and/or work toward healing from drug abuse.
For the Georgia Justice Project, the attorney-client relationship is only the beginning. As a result of smaller caseloads, the attorneys and social workers are also able to maintain their relationship with clients long after the case is concluded. For those convicted, this could include visits in prison and arranging for continued connection with family members. Upon release from prison, clients often need help with what Ammar describes as the “snowball” effect of their legal problems, including loss or denial of public housing benefits, ineligibility for employment licenses and problems with immigration status. The project assists with a number of crucial services—finding a home, medical care, counseling, education, even a job with the New Horizon Landscaping company, an integral part of the project. And long after release from prison, the project's family-style buffet dinners help to build a sense of belonging and re-integration in society.
Could the project's “stunning” success hinge on simply selecting the low-risk clients? Unlikely, as most have been charged with felonies, and are repeat offenders. Many of the project's clients would have slipped through the cracks of an indigent criminal defense system which leaves little time to focus on each person individually, and where a certain narrowness in their education and mentality may prevent attorneys from delving into the host of social issues which often lie at the root of the problems that lead to crime.
The Georgia Justice Project has found that within each of its clients is a tiny and fragile spark of hope which would have been easily extinguished under the pressures of an overwhelmed and impersonal criminal justice system. It catches that spark, encourages it to grow and then feeds it with support and love, until it becomes a robust and burning flame.
Amy Uelmen is the Director of the Fordham University School of Law Institute on Religion, Law & Lawyer's Work
1) Report of the National Symposium on Indigent Defense, Improving Criminal Justice Systems Through Expanded Strategies and Innovative Collaborations (March 2000); 2) May 17, 2002.
Full story in the August/September 2004 issue