Reports: Some states charge poor for public defenders, By Kevin Johnson, October 3, 2010, USA Today: “States increasingly are imposing fees on poor criminal defendants who use public defenders even when they can’t pay, causing some to go without attorneys, according to two reviews of the nation’s largest state criminal justice systems. A report out Monday by New York University School of Law’s Brennan Center for Justice found that 13 of the 15 states with the largest prison populations imposed some charge, including application fees, for access to counsel. ‘In practice, these fees often discourage individuals from exercising their constitutional right to an attorney, leading to wrongful convictions, over-incarceration and significant burdens on the operation of courts,’ the Brennan report concludes. In Michigan, the report says, the National Legal Aid and Defender Association found the ‘threat’ of having to pay the full cost of assigned counsel caused misdemeanor defendants to waive their right to attorneys 95% of the time…”

Oklahoma lawmakers study fallout of high incarceration rate, Associated Press, September 14, 2010, The Oklahoman: “Oklahoma’s strict criminal sentences, especially for women, create hardships for the children of inmates and perpetuate a cycle that often results in the children behind bars themselves, experts warned lawmakers Tuesday. Several child advocates and a criminal justice expert testified before the House Human Services Committee that Oklahoma’s children are paying the price for the state’s tough-on-crime sentencing policies…”

Poverty rate paradox: Poverty rises, but FBI crime rate falls, By Patrik Jonsson, September 13, 2010, Christian Science Monitor: “The much-studied links between poverty and crime rates - which helped give rise to many Great Society programs - have not materialized so far in the Great Recession. Even with 15 percent of Americans now officially poor, both violent crime and property crime continued to drop in the United States in 2009, the FBI reported Monday. The housing crash’s backwash of foreclosures and high unemployment has pushed some in the middle class and the working poor to the brink of despair and insolvency. Yet crimes reports ranging from murder to carjackings, from graft to purse-snatching, all declined during the same period, forcing social scientists to reexamine long-held assumptions about the causes of crime and how society can best battle back…”

Budget woes hit defense lawyers for the indigent, By Monica Davey, September 9, 2010, New York Times: “Some public defenders in Missouri say the stressed state budget is interfering with their ability to provide poor defendants with their constitutional right to a lawyer. They say they are so overworked and underfinanced that they have begun trying to reject new cases assigned to them late in the month, when, they say, their workloads are already beyond capacity. Concerns about a deteriorating, overwhelmed public defender system in this country have been around for decades, but they have ballooned recently as state budgets shrink and more defendants qualify for free legal counsel…”

Judge: Accused still need public defenders, but bill the state, By Madeleine Baran, August 18, 2010, Minnesota Public Radio: “Karen Duncan walked into an Owatonna court room Tuesday with a bold request. Duncan, the chief public defender for 11 counties in southeastern Minnesota, asked a judge to free her and her staff from 46 criminal cases she said they are simply too overworked to handle. It was the first such request from a public defense system that is straining statewide from staff and budget reductions. Judge Casey Christian denied Duncan’s request, saying that defendants have a constitutional right to representation. But he told Duncan she could hire private attorneys for those defendants and send the bill to the state…”

• More people released from jail face homelessness: Report, By Jim Rankin, August 10, 2010, Toronto Star: “On a sticky day in June, Eric Cromwell changed into the clothes he’d worn when he was arrested two months earlier on an assault charge and walked out of the Toronto West Detention Centre on Disco Rd. He was given a TTC token but possessed little else. He did have a bachelor apartment where his rent is automatically deducted from his welfare cheque, but that’s where the latest trouble had occurred. There’d been an incident with a neighbour and conditions placed on him forbid him from going anywhere near home. He’d been in and out of jail a number of times, and on this occasion, as had been the case before, he had no home to go to. But he knew where to go. He took public transit to the Maxwell Meighen shelter at Queen and Sherbourne Sts. ‘Down here, to me, it’s like home,’ says Cromwell, 32. ‘I know where to go. I know where to get food. I know how to survive.’ Each year, more people - mostly men - are leaving Toronto jails with nowhere to call home and no plan or supports to keep them from heading back to jail, according to a report by the John Howard Society of Toronto…”
• Inmates stuck in cycle of jail and homelessness, By Joe Friesen, August 9, 2010, The Globe and Mail: “The path to prison often begins in homelessness, and the path back to freedom tends to leave former inmates homeless once again. It’s a vicious cycle of failed reintegration that leads to recidivism, according to a new report from the John Howard Society of Toronto. The report found that more than one in five inmates in the Toronto area were homeless when they were arrested. And there was little sign their prospects for integration were smoothed by their time in jail. One-third of inmates said they planned on living in a homeless shelter when they were released, and a further 12 per cent said they had no idea where they would go. The report, Homeless and Jailed: Jailed and Homeless, based on interviews with 363 people in jail, highlights the difficulties many former prisoners face when they are returned to the community. It concludes that current incarceration policies are adding to the problem of homelessness in Toronto…”

Ill. penalizes employers who shortchange workers, By Sophia Tareen (AP), July 30, 2010, Washington Post: “Employers who shortchange or don’t pay their employees will face stiffer penalties and workers will have more rights under a bill Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law Friday, which experts say makes Illinois’ wage theft laws among the strongest in the country. Starting Jan. 1, a repeat offense will be considered a felony, not a misdemeanor. Also, employers who violate wage theft laws will have to pay workers back from the date of nonpayment with interest and a $250 fine. Depending on the violation, the employer may also owe interest to the Illinois Department of Labor…”

Congress reduces drug sentence gap, By Erik Eckholm, July 28, 2010, New York Times: “Congress passed a bill on Wednesday that would reduce the disparities between mandatory sentences for crack and powdered cocaine violations, a step toward ending what legal experts say have been unfairly harsh punishments imposed mainly on blacks. The bill, which passed the Senate in March, was adopted by the House of Representatives in a voice vote and now goes to the President for signature. Administration officials have described the sentencing disparity as ‘fundamentally unfair,’ and Mr. Obama said during the 2008 campaign that it ‘disproportionately filled our prisons with young black and Latino drug users…’”

Indiana accused of cutting aid to food-stamp users, By Charles Wilson (AP), July 20, 2010, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “For at least a decade, potentially thousands of Indiana’s neediest adults have seen some of their state aid payments slashed simply because they receive food stamps - a practice that advocates and legal experts said is a clear violation of federal law. The policy has affected people with developmental disabilities who need financial help to live independently and who receive additional assistance to buy groceries. The issue apparently went unnoticed for years until this month, when the father of a severely autistic Indianapolis man challenged it in court. ‘I’ve never heard of a state being confused about this before. The law is unambiguous,’ said Stacy Dean, director of food stamp policy for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington. Under the current system, when the federal government raises food stamp amounts, Indiana officials reduce grocery allowances so a person’s total food benefits do not exceed $200 a month. But since 1964, federal law has barred states from counting food stamps as income or using them to reduce any other public benefits…”

Indiana Supreme Court upholds voter ID law, By Eric Bradner, July 1, 2010, Evansville Courier and Press: “Hoosiers still must bring government-issued photo identification with them to the polls after the Indiana Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the state’s voter ID law. In a 4-1 decision, the state’s high court said the law - passed by the Indiana General Assembly in 2005 and subject to challenges since then - is regulatory in nature and does not change who is eligible to vote. The court rejected the League of Women Voters’ argument that the law adds a ’substantive qualification to the right to vote.’ Justice Brent Dickson, writing for the majority, said since voters already were required to identify themselves at polling places by stating and signing their names, the law is regulatory in nature…”

Unlikely mentors give felons hope, By Kevin Johnson, June 21, 2010, USA Today: “James Churchill was nearing the end of a 10-year prison term for armed robbery last year when he struck an unusual bargain with an unlikely partner. If Churchill, a career criminal at age 34, could stay out of trouble during his first months of freedom, police Lt. Ralph Mason pledged to help find him a job. The collaboration between cop and criminal in a state with the nation’s highest unemployment rate is remarkable and so far, successful. Eleven months after his release, Churchill has been employed for nine months - without incident - by a industrial plumbing company, earning up to $21 per hour. Churchill says he was ’shocked’ by Mason’s help, but the officer’s intervention is a sample of the untraditional methods Michigan officials are using to help ex-offenders re-enter society and slash troubling rates of those who return to prison. As communities across the nation struggle to assimilate about 700,000 ex-offenders who leave prison each year, according to the Justice Department, local Michigan officials are recruiting doctors, clergy, business leaders and even police as mentors to help keep them out…”

Legal Aid filling void in state’s justice system, By Clay Carey, June 1, 2010, The Tennessean: “Zachary and Lauren Tubb owe their landlord more than $3,000 in back rent and late fees. They’re having trouble paying for food. When they were summoned to Davidson County General Sessions Court, a private lawyer was out of the question. The Tubbs sat alone on the back row in court Thursday morning, unaware of court procedures and worried about their case. ‘Once they evict us, we’re homeless,’ Lauren Tubb whispered after the judge started court. The Tubbs are among a growing number of Tennesseans who need legal representation but can’t afford it, experts say. The problem is so severe that the chief justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court voiced her concerns about it in a recent report on the state of Tennessee’s judiciary system. ‘The current economic climate has created a crisis in the need for civil legal services,’ Justice Janice Holder wrote. The problems will only worsen, she said, as the state’s indigent and working poor face unemployment, predatory loans, uninsured medical bills, domestic violence, evictions and foreclosures. Tennesseans who meet federal poverty guidelines are eligible for free legal aid in civil matters, but there are about 1 million residents who qualify and only 81 federally funded, full-time attorneys in Tennessee to help them, Holder said. That means four out of every five eligible residents still can’t get legal help…”

From rats to heaters, doctor-lawyer team fights barriers to family health care, By Lena H. Sun, May 26, 2010, Washington Post: “Thirteen-year-old Haji Conteh had all the irritating symptoms of seasonal allergies when her father took her to see a pediatrician at a D.C. clinic last summer. But when the doctor questioned Haji and her father, she began to suspect there might be a cause other than pollen for the girl’s sneezing and itchy eyes: the rats and mold in the family’s Northwest Washington apartment. The pediatrician didn’t have the time or expertise to probe more deeply. But she did refer the family to a specialist– not another doctor, but a lawyer. The family is among 1,400 referred by doctors and others at Children’s National Medical Center to the Children’s Law Center. As part of a medical-legal partnership that began in 2002, lawyers work alongside doctors at four District clinics run by the hospital. Their shared goal is to overcome legal and social challenges that threaten the care of their patients — low-income children, predominantly African American, and virtually all covered by Medicaid…”

Florida among first states to make attacks on homeless hate crimes, By Kate Santich, May 19, 2010, Orlando Sentinel: “For four years, Florida has been named the worst state in the nation for violence against the homeless. Now it’s one of the first states to enact a law making it a hate crime to attack a homeless person. Experts are divided on whether the newly passed legislation will serve as a deterrent, but there’s no question it will make for stiffer penalties. The law, signed last week by Gov. Charlie Crist, will go into effect Oct. 1. It adds homeless people to an existing hate-crimes law that increases sentencing for attacks motivated by a victim’s race, color, ancestry, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, mental or physical disability or advanced age…”

Suit over legal aid advances in New York, By William Glaberson, May 6, 2010, New York Times: “New York’s highest court ruled Thursday that a broad class-action suit challenging the state’s system of providing public defenders can move forward because there are enough signs that the system is failing poor people. The 4-to-3 ruling by the State Court of Appeals came in a closely watched suit that civil liberties lawyers said could be a model for similar challenges across the country. It also set the stage for a sweeping battle in the courts and perhaps the Legislature…”

Top New York judge urges greater legal rights for the poor, By William Glaberson, May 3, 2010, New York Times: “New York’s chief judge called on Monday for a new guarantee of a lawyer for poor people in civil cases, like suits over eviction and other disputes where basic needs are at stake, pushing the state to the forefront of a national effort to expand the right to representation for the indigent. In a speech in Albany, the chief judge, Jonathan Lippman, said his proposal, the first such plan by a top court official in New York, reflected a commitment by the state’s courts ‘to bring us closer to the ideal of equal access to civil justice’ that he described as one of the foundations of the legal system…”

Why are more Monroe County kids in the juvenile justice system?, By Denise-Marie Santiago, May 2, 2010, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: “With his handcuffs off and a guard trailing him, Calvin didn’t look at the judge when he first walked into Monroe County Family Court. The lanky 17-year-old made a beeline to his mother that morning in March to kiss her, before standing with his attorney to hear how much more time he would serve in a juvenile facility for being caught a second time in a stolen car a year earlier. In Buffalo, he might still be at home and serving probation for the misdemeanor charge of unauthorized use of a vehicle. Syracuse officials may have diverted Calvin’s case to a program that keeps him with his family while providing services to get him back on track. In Monroe County, though, judges have long sent away more juvenile delinquents and persons in need of supervision, or PINS, to secure and nonsecure facilities than Buffalo’s Erie County and Syracuse’s Onondaga County combined. Monroe County is also more likely to keep them for a time in a local detention facility, rather than release them to their families, before their cases come to court. And among the 10 counties that place the most juvenile delinquents in state custody, according to a study of New York’s juvenile justice system, Monroe leads in disproportionately placing African-Americans…”

Flaws found in state child-abuse registries, By David Crary (AP), April 25, 2010, Miami Herald: “Combatting child abuse is a cause with universal support. Yet a push to create a national database of abusers, as authorized by Congress in 2006, is barely progressing as serious flaws come to light in the state-level registries that would be the basis for a national list. In North Carolina, an appeals court ruled last month that the registry there is unconstitutional because alleged abusers had no chance to defend themselves before being listed. In New York, a class-action settlement is taking effect on behalf of thousands of people who were improperly denied the chance for a hearing to get removed from the state registry. And the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a case this fall arising from the plight of a California couple whose names remain on that state’s registry years after they were cleared of an abuse allegation made by their rebellious teenage daughter…”

School suspensions lead to legal challenge, By Erik Eckholm, March 18, 2010, New York Times: “As school let out one day in January 2008, students from rival towns faced off. Two girls flailed away for several seconds and clusters of boys pummeled each other until teachers pulled them apart. The fistfights at Southside High School involved no weapons and no serious injuries, and in some ways seemed as old-fashioned as the country roads here in eastern North Carolina. But the punishment was strictly up-to-date: Sheriff’s deputies handcuffed and briefly arrested a dozen students. The school suspended seven of them for a short period and six others from the melee, including the two girls, for the entire semester. As extra punishment, the girls were told they could not attend Beaufort County’s alternative school for troubled students and were denied aid to study at home…”

California, in financial crisis, opens prison doors, By Randal C. Archibold, March 23, 2010, New York Times: “The California budget crisis has forced the state to address a problem that expert panels and judges have wrangled over for decades: how to reduce prison overcrowding. The state has begun in recent weeks the most significant changes since the 1970s to reduce overcrowding - and chip away at an astonishing 70 percent recidivism rate, the highest in the country - as the prison population becomes a major drag on the state’s crippled finances. Many in the state still advocate a tough approach, with long sentences served in full, and some early problems with released inmates have given critics reason to complain. But fiscal reality, coupled with a court-ordered reduction in the prison population, is pouring cold water on old solutions like building more prisons…”

When doctor visits lead to legal help, By Erik Eckholm, March 23, 2010, New York Times: “It was not the normal stuff of a pediatric exam. As a doctor checked the growth of Davon Cade’s 2-month-old son, he also probed about conditions at home, and what he heard raised red flags. Ms. Cade’s apartment had leaky windows and plumbing and was infested with roaches and mold, but the city, she said, had not responded to her complaints. On top of that, the landlord was evicting her for falling behind on the rent. Help came through an unexpected route. The doctor referred Ms. Cade to the legal aid office right inside the pediatric clinic at Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati. Within days, a paralegal had secured an inspection that finally forced the landlord to make repairs, and also got the rent reduced temporarily while Ms. Cade searched for less expensive housing. ‘It got done when the lawyers got involved,’ Ms. Cade said…”

Burden higher for nonprofit hospitals, Illinois Supreme Court says, By Bruce Japsen and Jason Grotto, March 19, 2010, Chicago Tribune: “An Illinois Supreme Court decision Thursday puts nonprofit hospitals on notice that they must provide an adequate amount of charity care to patients or risk losing significant tax exemptions. The decision, closely watched at a time when medical centers and the government are straining to cover health care costs for the poor, is a blow to the state’s hospital industry. It sets the stage for a potential debate about exactly how charitable hospitals must be, with some experts predicting that Springfield could seek to pass a law mandating the amounts. In the meantime, state officials indicated they could incorporate the court ruling into their assessments of whether to renew hospital tax exemptions. In its decision upholding a lower court ruling, the high court found that the Illinois Department of Revenue was correct in withdrawing Provena Covenant Medical Center’s property tax exemption in 2004 because the Urbana hospital failed to justify adequately the exemption through charitable giving…”

• Report finds states holding fewer prisoners, By John Schwartz, March 16, 2010, New York Times: “State prison populations, which have grown for nearly four decades, have begun to dip, according to a new report, largely because of recent efforts to keep parolees out of prison and reduce prison time for nonviolent offenders. State prisons held 1,403,091 people as of Jan. 1, nearly four-tenths of a percent fewer than a year before, the report said. Prison populations have fallen in 27 states in that period, while they have risen in 23…”
• State prison population drops for 1st time since 1972; report suggests budget woes responsible, By David Crary (AP), March 17, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “Spurred by budget crises, California and Michigan together reduced their prison populations by more than 7,500 last year, contributing to what a new report says is the first nationwide decline in the number of state inmates since 1972. The overall drop was slight, according to the Pew Center on the States - just 0.4 percent - but its report suggests there could be a sustained downward trend because of keen interest by state policymakers in curtailing corrections costs…”

Sometimes, good legal help is the best medicine, By Anna Gorman, March 12, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “Maria Perez’s fever had climbed to 103, her body ached and she had trouble breathing. After being told in the emergency room that she had pneumonia, Perez went to a clinic in South Los Angeles for a follow-up appointment. The doctor asked Perez about her housing situation. Her apartment had cockroaches and mice, Perez said, and rain came through a broken window and filled the walls with mold. The doctor wrote prescriptions to treat the pneumonia and an asthma flare-up and then did something that he hoped would prevent her from getting even sicker: He sent her down the hall to talk to a lawyer. The attorney, Dennis Hsieh, contacted both the landlord and the Los Angeles Housing Department. The living conditions improved, and so did Perez’s health…”

Justice Dept. to launch Indigent Defense Program, By Ari Shapiro, February 26, 2010, National Public Radio: “The U.S. criminal justice system typically pits defense lawyers against government prosecutors. Now, defense lawyers who represent poor clients are about to get some major help from their usual adversaries. The Justice Department is on the verge of launching a new program to help low-income people receive legal help. It’s called the Access to Justice initiative, and one of the top constitutional lawyers in the country is taking a leave of absence from Harvard to spearhead the project. Although there has been no official announcement, a Justice spokesperson has confirmed the plans. Professor Laurence Tribe of Harvard Law will begin work in Washington next week as senior counselor for Access to Justice. He will coordinate with judges and lawyers across the country with the goal of finding ways to help people who cannot afford a lawyer - a circumstance known in legal terms as indigent defense…”

Food-stamp aid collected by inmates costs state, By Clark Kauffman, February 8, 2010, Des Moines Register: “Thirty percent of the inmates in the Polk County Jail last spring were illegally collecting food-stamp benefits, a state investigation shows. Federal regulations prohibit people who have been jailed for 30 days or more from collecting food-stamp benefits while incarcerated. But Iowa’s food-stamp program, which is administered by the state’s Department of Human Services, doesn’t routinely check on recipients’ compliance with that restriction. As a result, thousands of food-stamp beneficiaries are believed to be fraudulently collecting assistance while in jail. The benefits can only be accessed by using an electronic benefits transfer card - better known as an EBT card - which is similar to a bank debit card. Some inmates have given their EBT cards to others, while some have sold their cards in return for cash they can spend while in jail…”

• TN child support collections drop, By Janell Ross, February 5, 2010, The Tennessean: “Natalie Conway came to court with a Bible in her purse and a manila folder under her arm. The folder was full of day-care bills and paycheck stubs listing her income and health insurance costs, evidence of what it costs to care for her 5-year-old daughter. Chuck Stewart, Conway’s ex-boyfriend and the girl’s father, came with a few records of his own. Stewart lost his full-time job in April and has been able to find only a part-time job that pays $9 an hour. He asked the court to reduce his $500-a-month child support payments and won - he’ll pay $400 a month now. Conway left the courtroom in tears. ‘I understand that he is having a hard time right now,’ said Conway, a data entry clerk for a Nashville health-care company. ‘And maybe he did need a reduction or something, but that $100 is a lot for me.’ Monday’s scene in Davidson County Juvenile Court is becoming more common. The economic downturn means fewer parents can pay their court-ordered child support, and Tennessee is marking its first decline in child support collections in almost 10 years…”

Even the poor make too much to get a public defender, By Steven Elbow, January 25, 2010, Capital Times: “So you’re scraping by on minimum wage, and your hours were cut to 25 per week. You managed to put $300 in the bank, and you drive a beater you bought for $2,000. That puts you in the federal poverty bracket. But according to the state public defender, if you’re arrested, you won’t qualify for a public defender. If your boss cuts your hours to nine, you still wouldn’t qualify. State Public Defender Nicholas Chiarkas calls the standards used to assess whether the poor can qualify for assistance from his office ‘an embarrassment.’ They haven’t been updated or adjusted for inflation since 1987 and are the most stringent in the nation, he says. You have to be dirt poor to qualify. Further, the standards force cash-strapped counties to foot the bill for appointing lawyers for defendants who would undergo substantial hardship if they were forced to pay for their own legal representation. The state’s Legislative Fiscal Bureau found that statewide, Wisconsin counties shelled out about $6 million in 2008 - the most recent figures available - to hire attorneys for the poor…”

Muskegon Chronicle Series, Starting Over:

• State program aims to keep parolees out of prison, By Teresa Taylor Williams, January 9, 2010, Muskegon Chronicle: “Lost. Broken. Alone. Those words often describe parolees who leave prison only to commit a fresh crime shortly thereafter. But a statewide program implemented locally two years ago aims to stop that pattern. The Michigan Prisoner Re-Entry Initiative was introduced in 2005 to help equip parolees with tools they need for success in their communities. One of the cornerstones of those ‘tools’ is pairing men and women prisoners with adult mentors with the goal of helping them make a successful transition back into society. Anecdotally and statistically, the program appears to be working…”
• Children, family of prisoners pay hefty price, By Teresa Taylor Williams, January 10, 2010, Muskegon Chronicle: “When Patti Brewer drives by Earnest C. Brooks Correctional Facility near her home, her 6-year-old son Bryan often says, ‘That’s Daddy’s house, isn’t it?’ The last several years, the father of her two sons has been in and out of prison. Single parenting has been rough on Brewer. She works during the day in a bakery and has to get her boys to the family daycare provider before dawn. Her car is barely running, and the electricity in her home was shut off last month. Brewer is thankful for help she gets from family. But the financial challenges and ‘missing’ her boys’ father - Joseph Martin Morales, who is in prison for armed robbery and drug possession - is wearing down Brewer…”

Despite recession, crime keeps falling, By Devlin Barrett (AP), December 21, 2009, San Francisco Chronicle: “High unemployment. More folks on food stamps. Fewer owning their homes. Yet for all the signs of recession, something is missing: More crime. Experts are scratching their heads over why crime has ebbed so far during this recession, making it different from other economic downturns of the past half-century. Early guesses include jobless folks at home keeping closer watch for thieves, or the American population just getting older_ and older people commit fewer crimes. Preliminary FBI crime figures for the first half of 2009 show crime falling across the country, even at a time of high unemployment, foreclosures and layoffs. Most surprisingly, murder and manslaughter fell 10 percent for the first half of the year…”

Courts seek more lawyers to help the poor, By William Glaberson, January 6, 2010, New York Times: “The recession has swelled the number of people showing up in New York State courts who cannot afford lawyers to 2.1 million annually, often turning eviction, foreclosure, debt collection and other civil cases into lopsided battles that raise questions about the fairness of the legal system. In response, the state court system is beginning an unusual new program this week to try to fill the gap with volunteer retired lawyers, hoping partly to attract Baby Boomer lawyers who may be ready to slow down but are not keen on full-time golf. New York’s chief judge, Jonathan Lippman, said in an interview that officials changed the state’s rules this week to add a new category of lawyer, attorney emeritus, that will free lawyers of some burdens of full-time practice, like paying for malpractice insurance, while channeling them to dozens of legal programs around the state that represent low-income people without charge. Until now, lawyers were required to register with the state as either active or retired…”

New York finds extreme crisis in youth prisons, By Nicholas Confessore, December 13, 2009, New York Times: “New York’s system of juvenile prisons is broken, with young people battling mental illness or addiction held alongside violent offenders in abysmal facilities where they receive little counseling, can be physically abused and rarely get even a basic education, according to a report by a state panel. The problems are so acute that the state agency overseeing the prisons has asked New York’s Family Court judges not to send youths to any of them unless they are a significant risk to public safety, recommending alternatives, like therapeutic foster care. ‘New York State’s current approach fails the young people who are drawn into the system, the public whose safety it is intended to protect, and the principles of good governance that demand effective use of scarce state resources,’ said the confidential draft report, which was obtained by The New York Times…”

• Need is up, but funding plummets for legal aid, By Mary Pat Flaherty, December 7, 2009, Washington Post: “For accountant Jose Burgos, who was laid off in October, the free legal advice he’s received in Montgomery County could make the difference in whether his family keeps its Silver Spring condominium. For the legal staff, Burgos, 41, is one more complicated bankruptcy consultation in a year of many — and that is where the stress hits. At the very time that more newly poor people need help with the likes of mortgages, rent disputes and battles over wages, clinics across the country that help with noncriminal cases are enduring sharp funding drops…”
• Report: Insufficient funding for legal aid, By Scott Daugherty, December 7, 2009, The Capital: “The weak economy is cutting into a vital source of funding for legal aid in Maryland, leaving many area residents without any help to navigate the courts in civil matters, according to a state panel. A report released last month by the Maryland Access to Justice Commission found the Interest On Lawyers Trust Accounts program, which historically provided about half of the state’s funding for legal aid, is generating about 70 percent less revenue than it did two years ago. The program, which diverts interest from many attorney-held bank accounts, is expected to pull in about $2 million this fiscal year, down from $6.7 million two years ago…”

Moms, children stay locked up together in Ohio, By Sharon Coolidge and Eileen Kelley, November 13, 2009, Cincinnati Enquirer: “The only thing missing from tiny Takeem Maffett’s world are black and white prison stripes. On the campus of the Ohio Reformatory for Women, convicts shuffle across from one spot to the next under watchful eyes. Takeem’s mother Takaya Patterson is exempt. In contrast to the other buildings at the sprawling complex surrounded by razor wire and blinding lights, the nursery is colorful and dotted with Sesame Street characters. Takeem’s mother wears a prison jumpsuit. Takeem, with cherub cheeks and long slender fingers, sleeps in her arms as she rocks. Just 2 months old, Takeem lives in prison. Under an unusual program, the state of Ohio lets Patterson raise him behind prison walls…”

R.I.’s hard times hit child support, By W. Zachary Malinowski, October 26, 2009, Providence Journal: “One-by-one, day-after-day, the men sheepishly walk to the lectern in Family Court and answer questions about why they can’t possibly make their child-support payments. On a recent morning, Kervin Candelier fumbled through his pants pockets and pulled out a wrinkled receipt from Western Union that suggested he had paid $1,000 in June. Candelier owed $6,900 in child support payments, and his former girlfriend, the mother of their two children, claimed that he only gave her $500 to pay for school clothes and supplies. He said that he’s doing his best, but he’s a barber and only makes about $230 a week. ‘Every business is slow right now because of the economy,’ he said. Magistrate George N. DiMuro, acting on a recommendation from the state Office of Child Support Services, ordered the father to immediately pay a lump sum of $300 and begin paying her $70 a week through the court system. DiMuro tells him to make sure the payments are made through the court, so it’s recorded - not directly to the mother. ‘Otherwise, you’re going to get yourself in a world of trouble here,’ DiMuro warned. There’s no better place to get an understanding of the state’s poor economy than Family Court - the place where divorce, custody, child support and other domestic crises are settled. According to the latest national economic data, Rhode Island’s unemployment rate of 13 percent is the third highest in the nation, trailing only Michigan and Nevada…”

• Missouri public defender system faces ‘caseload crisis,’ study says, By Mark Morris, October 25, 3009, Kansas City Star: “Missouri’s public defender system is facing ‘an overwhelming caseload crisis’ that has pushed the state’s criminal justice system ‘to the brink of collapse,’ a new study reports. The study, released Friday, underscores a similar 2005 report and notes that little has improved. The public defender system represents poor defendants charged with more than 80 percent of the felonies filed in Missouri. Offices throughout the state regularly report that their lawyers are working well above 100 percent of their recommended maximum workloads. Earlier this year, Laura Denvir Stith, then chief justice of the Missouri Supreme Court, warned legislators that the state’s courts could be forced to release ‘vast numbers’ of inmates from jail because their public defenders could not get them to trial quick enough. She also warned that the state was vulnerable to lawsuits challenging the adequacy of its public defender system…”
• Missouri Supreme Court must stanch public defender meltdown, Editorial, October 27, 2009, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “A new study of Missouri’s public defender system - which provides lawyers for indigent defendants in criminal cases - says the system’s lawyers are so underpaid, overworked and badly supervised that they’re like the pilots of the commuter plane that crashed into a Buffalo, N.Y., suburb in February. As a result, says the Spangenberg Group, a judicial consulting firm, and George Mason University’s Center for Justice, Law and Society, Missouri’s criminal justice system ‘is heading for disaster, one which is both predictable and preventable.’ Missouri’s public defender system ’stands at the bottom of its sister states in terms of resources,’ the report concludes, and ‘has reached a point where what it provides is often nothing more than the illusion of a lawyer.’ None of this is news, at least not to anyone familiar with the state’s criminal justice system. The Missouri Bar commissioned a similar study four years ago, and it reached similar conclusions…”

California gives the poor a new legal right, By Carol J. Williams, October 17, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “California is embarking on an unprecedented civil court experiment to pay for attorneys to represent poor litigants who find themselves battling powerful adversaries in vital matters affecting their livelihoods and families. The program is the first in the nation to recognize a right to representation in key civil cases and provide it for people fighting eviction, loss of child custody, domestic abuse or neglect of the elderly or disabled. Advocates for the poor say the law, which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed this week, levels the legal playing field and gives underprivileged litigants a better shot at attaining justice against unscrupulous landlords, abusive spouses, predatory lenders and other foes. Although some analysts worry that it could swell state court dockets or eat up resources better spent on other needs of the poor, the pilot project that won bipartisan endorsement in the state Assembly will be financed by a $10 increase in court fees for prevailing parties…”

More of state’s poor may soon get public defender, By Bruce Vielmetti, October 11, 2009, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Seven years after a Journal Sentinel investigation revealed how outdated eligibility criteria prevent hundreds of poor residents charged with crimes from getting a public lawyer, those same 1987 standards remain in effect. The criteria essentially say that anyone earning $7.25 an hour, with a $2,000 car and $300 cash isn’t poor enough for a public defender. The paper’s 2002 series “Unequal Justice” examined hundreds of cases in which defendants were denied a public defender and found dozens who were forced to defend themselves, including the nearly illiterate, a mentally impaired senior and a first-time defendant who thought the prosecutor was his lawyer. Everyone in the criminal justice system agreed in 2002 that the practice violates the U.S. Constitution and often leads to injustice. But year after year, legislative attempts to change the standards have failed…”

Study finds high rate of imprisonment among dropouts, By Sam Dillon, October 8, 2009, New York Times: “On any given day, about one in every 10 young male high school dropouts is in jail or juvenile detention, compared with one in 35 young male high school graduates, according to a new study of the effects of dropping out of school in an America where demand for low-skill workers is plunging. The picture is even bleaker for African-Americans, with nearly one in four young black male dropouts incarcerated or otherwise institutionalized on an average day, the study said. That compares with about one in 14 young, male, white, Asian or Hispanic dropouts. Researchers at Northeastern University used census and other government data to carry out the study, which tracks the employment, workplace, parenting and criminal justice experiences of young high school dropouts…”

Economy boosts demand for free legal aid, By Brian Wargo, September 18, 2009, Las Vegas Sun: “The slumping Las Vegas economy has increased demand for free legal services and stretched the resources of agencies trying to provide those services. Nevada Legal Services, the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada and Senior Citizens Law Project have reported many more requests and say it’s hard to meet the demand. ‘It is overwhelming,’ said Lynn Etkins, development director of Legal Aid Center. ‘Our lobby is filled with clients ranging from victims of domestic violence to people losing their homes and jobs. With the economy and layoffs, we have a lot more people in the community (who need) our services.’ This year has seen a 25 percent increase in placements with pro bono attorneys. A consumer hotline has received 14 percent more calls than a year ago, she said. Demand has increased for help with divorce, consumer credit, bankruptcy and other issues, Etkins said…”

• Voter ID decision resurrects debate, By Bill Ruthhart and Jon Murray, September 18, 2009, Indianapolis Star: “The Indiana Court of Appeals’ rejection of the state’s controversial voter ID law Thursday has reignited a political firestorm over its merits and left Gov. Mitch Daniels accusing judges of playing politics. The ruling fanned the flames on a debate that has raged since 2005, when Indiana became the first state to require voters to show government-issued photo identification at the polls. Republicans have long held that the law strengthens the electoral process and prevents fraud, while Democrats have insisted that it disenfranchises elderly, disabled and poor voters…”
• Indiana court strikes down voter ID law, By John Schwartz, September 17, 2009, New York Times: “An Indiana law requiring voters to show identification, declared constitutional by the United States Supreme Court just last year, was struck down Thursday by a state appellate court. The state court said the law violated the Indiana Constitution by not treating all voters equally. The legislature passed the voter ID law in 2005, and it was challenged in federal court. The Supreme Court upheld it in April 2008, but that July the League of Women Voters brought a new suit in state court…”
• Indiana court strikes down state’s voter ID law, By Charles Wilson and Mike Smith (AP), September 17, 2009, Indianapolis Star: “The state Court of Appeals on Thursday struck down an Indiana law requiring government-issued photo identification for voters, overturning on state constitutional grounds a strict law that previously had been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller said he would appeal the ruling. ‘The state’s long-held view is that the Voter ID law is constitutional, and we will vigorously defend the statute in arguing that position before the Indiana Supreme Court,’ he said…”

At least 23 states spend less on prisons, By John Gramlich, August 11, 2009, Stateline.org: “A $1 billion cost-cutting plan announced last week by Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) will translate into layoffs for more than a thousand state prison workers. In Oregon, a voter-approved plan to hand longer prison sentences to those who commit property crimes was delayed by state lawmakers who said they could not pay for it. Tennessee’s department of corrections has sought to save money by offering inmates less milk and meat in their daily meals. And in Kansas - which has received national attention in recent years for shifting resources from locking up prisoners to rehabilitating them - the state eliminated 85 percent of the slots in its substance-abuse treatment program for inmates, citing budget constraints…”

Mentally ill offenders strain juvenile system, By Solomon Moore, August 9, 2009, New York Times: “The teenager in the padded smock sat in his solitary confinement cell here in this state’s most secure juvenile prison and screamed obscenities. The youth, Donald, a 16-year-old, his eyes glassy from lack of sleep and a daily regimen of mood stabilizers, was serving a minimum of six months for breaking and entering. Although he had received diagnoses for psychiatric illnesses, including bipolar disorder, a judge decided that Donald would get better care in the state correctional system than he could get anywhere in his county. That was two years ago. Donald’s confinement has been repeatedly extended because of his violent outbursts…”

• Attacks on homeless bring push on hate crime laws, By Eric Lichtblau, August 7, 2009, New York Times: “With economic troubles pushing more people onto the streets in the last few years, law enforcement officials and researchers are seeing a surge in unprovoked attacks against the homeless, and a number of states are considering legislation to treat such assaults as hate crimes. This October, Maryland will become the first state to expand its hate-crime law to add stiffer penalties for attacks on the homeless. At least five other states are pondering similar steps, the District of Columbia approved such a measure this week, and a like bill was introduced last week in Congress…”
• Florida led the nation last year in violence against the homeless, By Scott Wyman, August 8, 2009, South Florida Sun Sentinel: “Last September, a homeless woman in Pompano Beach was raped and nearly strangled. Earlier in the year, two homeless men in West Palm Beach were shot and killed and a Fort Lauderdale man was accused of harassing the homeless with a chainsaw. Florida led the nation for the fourth consecutive year in violence against the homeless in a report released Saturday by the National Coalition for the Homeless. The group documented 30 attacks last year in 10 communities across the state, including three deaths…”

Cuts in legal aid hit poorest, By Jenifer B. McKim, August 6, 2009, Boston Globe: “A dramatic drop in funding is forcing legal aid programs across Massachusetts to lay off lawyers, cut back their office hours, and turn away a growing number of people who cannot afford to pay for legal help. Tens of thousands of people statewide who would normally qualify for free assistance this year will not get it, according to the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation, a quasipublic agency that administers most of the funding for the state’s legal aid programs…”

Iowa’s legal aid offices feel pinch, By Grant Schulte, July 24, 2009, Des Moines Register: “Child support debts continued to mount for Ann Howser even after her former husband died and her 17-year-old son returned to her care. But the Des Moines woman could not afford the legal fees - probably $1,000 - to revise her divorce papers and cancel the required payments. So she turned to Iowa Legal Aid, a nonprofit group that helps low-income Iowans navigate the law…”

Governor vetoes bill on public defenders, By Chad Livengood, July 14, 2009, Springfield News-Leader: “Gov. Jay Nixon on Monday vetoed legislation that would have eased the burden on the state’s overworked public defenders.  Sen. Jack Goodman’s Senate Bill 37 would have allowed the state public defender system to establish caps on the number of cases each attorney can take on…”

Government to require verification of workers, By Julia Preston, July 8, 2009, New York Times: “The Obama administration will require businesses that win federal contracts to use a government electronic database system to verify that their employees have legal immigration status to work in the United States, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on Wednesday.  After a six-month review, Homeland Security officials decided to go ahead with a worker-verification plan based on the electronic system, called E-Verify. The system, which the Bush administration sought to put into effect in its final months, is meant to prevent federal contractors from hiring illegal immigrants…”

• Growing numbers of poor people swamp legal aid offices in U.S., By Tony Pugh, July 12, 2009, Detroit Free Press: “After years of funding shortfalls, legal aid societies across the country are being overwhelmed by growing numbers of poor and unemployed Americans who face eviction, foreclosure, bankruptcy and other legal problems tied to the recession.  The crush of new clients comes as the cash-strapped agencies cut staff and services…”
• A fair shake for legal aid, Editorial, July 13, 2009, Washington Post: “For the past 13 years, the Legal Services Corp. has had its hands tied while trying to fulfill its mission of representing poor people in civil matters. Legal aid lawyers, for example, have been prohibited from using federal and even privately procured or state and local funds to initiate class actions; they have also been barred from seeking attorney’s fees even when they prevail in court — a benefit available to other lawyers in many civil rights or consumer protection matters…”

• State is sued over voter registration, By Amanda Hamon, July 10, 2009, Indianapolis Star: “Voters’ rights groups filed a lawsuit Thursday charging that Indiana fails to provide public assistance applicants the chance to register to vote, violating federal law.  The suit, filed in U.S. District Court, names as defendants eight state officials, including Anne Murphy, secretary of the state Family and Social Services Administration, and Thomas Wheeler, chairman of the Indiana Election Commission…”
• Groups say states violating voter registration law, By Nedra Pickler (AP), July 9, 2009, Chicago Tribune: “States across the country are violating part of the federal “motor voter” law requiring voter registration help for low-income residents, according to a coalition of advocacy groups trying to force change through the courts. The groups filed lawsuits in Indiana and New Mexico on Thursday on the heels of a successful settlement in Missouri. They say the problem is not isolated in those few states but widespread across the nation, and they are trying to help other states follow the law without litigation…”