skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, May 20, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

IVF clinic bombing should be a security wakeup call for fertility centers, experts say; Illinois is first state to restrict federal access to autism-related data; Virginia ranks in top 10 for lowest rates of deaths on the job; Food security researchers in 20 countries thought they had U.S. funding. Then Trump took office.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Congress debates Medicaid cuts, FBI pledges to investigate missing Indigenous people, Illinois pushes back on federal autism data plan, and deadly bombing in California is investigated as domestic terrorism.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

New Mexico's acequia irrigation system is a model of democratic governance, buying a house in rural America will get harder under the Trump administration's draft 2026 budget, and physicians and medical clinics serving rural America are becoming a rarity.

PA public defenders struggle with high caseloads, attorney shortage

play audio
Play

Friday, April 25, 2025   

More than 60 Pennsylvania counties do not have enough public defenders for their caseloads, forcing some, including in Erie County, to each handle more than 400 cases a year.

A report by Quattrone Center at the University of Pennsylvania said the state needs more than 1,200 full-time public defenders but has about 850.

Sara Jacobson, executive director of the Public Defender Association of Pennsylvania, said the state was one of only two providing no funding for public defense but $7.5 million was allocated in the last two state budgets. Jacobson acknowledged it has helped, although spread across 67 counties, it is not enough to make real change in places like Erie County.

"Erie got in 2023-2024 a little over $102,000. The second appropriation: $106,723," Jacobson pointed out. "The problem is that when you add the cost of an attorney's salary and benefits, the money that's there is not enough when it gets divided up."

The report found Erie County would need 28 full-time attorneys to handle the large caseload but currently has nine full-time and eight part-time attorneys. At a recent news conference, Clinton County Commissioner Jeff Snyder said the state's allocation of funding for indigent defense would have to double, to $15 million a year to handle the growing need.

Jacobson noted heavy caseloads cause delays, both for public defenders and clients. She added prior to the pandemic, Erie County had top public defender pay but now, some attorneys are leaving for better-paying work in the Erie conflict office.

"Conflict Counsel in Erie County gets paid more and has a far lower caseload," Jacobson explained. "Every time someone leaves, their 400 or however many cases have to be distributed among the other lawyers. So those caseloads go up and the service to those clients goes down because of it."

Jacobson cited a Vanderbilt Law School study, which found each exoneration for a wrongful conviction costs a state $6.1 million. With at least 140 exonerations, it adds up to $856 million in costs for Pennsylvania.

Disclosure: The Public Defenders Association of Pennsylvania contributes to our fund for reporting on Criminal Justice, Mental Health, and Poverty Issues. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
Florida A&M University, a public historically Black land-grant institution in Tallahassee, was founded in 1887. It is one of the largest Historically Black Colleges and Universities by enrollment and the only public HBCU in Florida. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

The selection of Marva Johnson, a longtime corporate executive and ally of Gov. Ron DeSantis, as the next president of Florida A&M University has …


Environment

play sound

Congress is set to claw back $6.5 billion in climate-related Inflation Reduction Act investments to help pay for the Trump administration's priorities…

Social Issues

play sound

The FBI has said it will add resources in 10 states including New Mexico to tackle unresolved crimes, with a focus on those related to missing and …


Health and Wellness

play sound

Illinois is the first state to block the federal government from accessing state data on autism. The order, signed by Gov. JB Pritzker last week…

Oregon and California have created prescribed burn liability funds to help reduce the risk for landowners and contractors. (David Elkins/Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

Washington lawmakers have created a new Prescribed Burn Liability Fund to help make controlled burns less risky on public, private and tribal lands …

Social Issues

play sound

A recent scam using fake Indiana government email addresses is prompting a broader warning to Hoosiers. The messages claimed to involve unpaid tolls …

Social Issues

play sound

A guaranteed income pilot program in Oakland improved housing stability and employment among its recipients, according to a new report from the …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021