EP 475 Public Defenders Are on A Hamster Wheel of Justice

There is growing immediacy to issues surrounding criminal justice in America.  The focus is often on police violence, mass incarceration, and inequities in how justice is meted out depending on the color of the skin of the perpetrator or the victim. Yet one element of this system that has gotten little attention is the broken public defender system which is key to many other aspects of justice.  While public defenders are often typified in the public’s mind as champions of the downtrodden and the dispossessed they are working in a system which forces them to focus as much, if not more, on speed and efficiency as justice for their client.  Jonathan Rapping is the author of ‘Gideon’s Promise’ and founder and president of an organization of the same name which has as its mandate to change the culture and practice of criminal defense in America.  Get ready to have your eyes opened as we discuss what it means to live up to the creed that justice is blind.  

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