LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to have the Alternate Public Defender’s office represent juvenile offenders when the Public Defender’s office cannot, a move away from “panel attorneys” in the wake of criticisms about unequal representation.
Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Sheila Kuehl recommended the shift.
“This has been a long time coming,” Ridley-Thomas said. “Those who have been denied and those who have been neglected … are now going to be able to feel as if they are being properly represented.”
Public defenders are the first stop for juveniles charged with a crime and unable to pay for their own attorney. When the Public Defender’s office has a conflict of interest, the county has paid court-appointed “panel attorneys” to take cases.
But a report commissioned by the county and released this spring by the Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy at the UC Berkeley School of Law found that juvenile justice was “markedly uneven,” depending on whether the accused were assigned public defenders or panel attorneys.
“There are a lot of panel attorneys who have done a very, very good job; (however) the data showed that there were gaps,” Kuehl said. UC Berkeley researchers found that panel attorneys — who represent a higher proportion of juveniles who end up being tried as adults — spend, on average, about half as much time defending their clients. On average, they file fewer motions, consult fewer experts and provide less documentation to support clients than public defenders.
The supervisors said even more is demanded of those who represent minors than those with adult clients.
“Unlike adult defense, juvenile defense attorneys fulfill a dual role: they must defend their clients against the allegation and must advocate for their clients’ broader care, treatment and guidance both before and after disposition of the criminal charges,” the supervisors’ motion says.
Panel lawyers connect one in 100 youths they represent to a social worker after their case is resolved, according to the report. Public defenders make that link for about one-third of their clients.
The county pays panel attorneys a flat fee of $340 to $360, regardless of the specifics of the case, a practice that has been criticized by the State Bar and seen as one reason for the uneven representation.
The board considered a number of solutions, including eliminating the flat-fee rate, paying the bar association to oversee panel attorneys, hiring more alternate public defenders and merging the Public Defender’s and Alternate Public Defender’s offices.
The supervisors on Tuesday chose to hire the APD when conflicts exist and then, when both the PD and ADP are unable to take on a case, to have the Los Angeles County Bar Association provide administration and oversight of court- appointed panel attorneys.
Some defense attorneys objected.
“Why are you considering replacing your most experienced attorneys?” asked Robert Bolinger of the Los Padrinos Juvenile Panel, telling the board that the average attorney on that panel has more than 32 years of experience.
Another lawyer, Gary Farwell, said, “We are not the problem. It is the system and structure itself.”
Panel attorneys negotiating a new contract were already demanding an hourly rate rather than a flat fee, according to Kuehl.
Supervisor Michael Antonovich suggested having the bar oversee all non- PD attorneys rather than asking the ADP to step in.
County Chief Executive Officer Sachi Hamai said the cost of adding bar oversight to all non-PD cases would cost about $200,000 more than having the ADP serve next in line to the PD and using panel attorneys overseen by the bar as a last resort. She estimated the latter option at $10.5 million.
Antonovich argued that the decision to hire more staff for the ADP’s office would be hard to unwind as juvenile case numbers dropped. He asked that the vote be delayed for additional cost analysis and ultimately abstained from the vote.
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Rick says
You too, can reach this fine “literate” demographic….
All I can say is Wow, from an outsider’s perspective (Oregon criminal defense investigator).
Seems to be a good move for folk that actually care about the zealous and proficient legal representations of the youth/next generation.
RB
Attorney says
This article only applies to criminal filings. This is a vast improvement. Before attorneys who were court appointed actually LOST money if they did not plead kids to the charges right away. This change means the attorneys will be of a higher quality because the alternate public defender generally hires only the best public defenders and they will be able to afford to work up the cases without working about the county paying etc. Dependancy court will remain the same mess it is.
xoxo says
Why don’t you get DCFS, THEY GOT THERE CONNECTIONS, THEY’LL TURN THEM AROUND, IN FACT, THEY WILL TURN THEM UPSIDE DOWN.. THERE GOOD AT MAKING DRUG ADDICTS! QHO WOULD WANT THERE KID BACK AFTER WHAT HAPPENS DEALING WITH THEM??? THEY PROBABLY MESS UP THEIR MENTAL HEALTH TOO, BY GETTINGTHEM ON MEDICATIONS, AND THEN OVERDOSEING THEM SO THEY START ACTING OUT LIKE CRIMMINALS, THROWING [removed], ACRING CRAZY, AND SOME STAFF DON’T KNOW WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON, BUT NOW THEY GOT A KID THAT IS [removed] UP, SCREWED UP, WHY BECAUSE DCFS WANTS TO COVER THEIR [removed], QHEN THEY BRING THEM TO COURT, AND MAKE IT LOOK LIKE THE KID IS THE PROBLEM. AND THEN THE COURT BELIEVES THEM… I SEEN A TEENAGE KID THIS HAPPEN TOO, AND I SEEN A TOT ALL MEDICATED DURING A VISIT, AND THE POOR KID ACTING OUT DROPPING AND THROWING TOYS, AND THE SW TURNNG THERE HEAD. SMH, I WOULD TEST THESE KIDS WITHOUT ANYONE KNOWING TO SEE WHAT IS IN THERE SYSTEM. I WAS GOINGTO TEST MY OWN KID ONE TIME. THERE ARE EVIL WICKED MFR’S HURTIN OUR KIDS!!! AND IF YOU COMPLAIN YOUR KID GETS BEAT UP OE DRUGGED SO BAD THEY CANT EVEN TALK, IT HAPPENED TO MY KID
THEY WERE SLICK THEY DID IT DURING THE WEEK WHEN I DIDN’T USUALLY COME, BUT ON THE WEEKEND, HAHA, OMFG, MY WAS A ZOMBIE, HE COULDN’T EVEN TALK TO ME HE WAS LIKE ZZZ ZZZ, I WAS LIKE FREAKING OUT SCARED TO DEATH. THEN I SEWN ANOTHER KID WHERE THE STAFF WAS WALKING WITH HIM, AND THE KID COULD NOT STOP SAYING PROFANITIES, AND THEN THW THERAPIST WANTS TO LIE TO THE DOCTOR AND SAY THE KID HAS TOURETTES SYNDROME, YEAH, BECAUSE THE MEDUCATION YOUR GIVING HIM IS MAKING HIM HAVE TOURETTES, I SAY ONE COMPLAINT GET THEM OUT OF THERE, OR USE YOUR FAMILY AS A GUINEA PIG, MY FAMILY GOT [removed] OVER AND THE SW JUST KEPT A SMILE ON HER FACE EVERYTIME I SEEN HER, [removed], LETS USE YOUR FAMILY HOW ABOUT THAT?? I HOPE YOU ROTT IN HELL!!!!! THE [removed] UP THING ABOUT IT IS, WERE A GOOD FAMILY, THAT NOW LOOK LIKE IDIOTS, THANK YOU TO GOD BE THE GLORY. HE KNOWS THE TRUTH, BUT IF SOME OF THESE PEOPLE WHO HAVE AUTHORITY GET THERE HEAD OUT THEIR [removed], MAYBE, JUST MAYBE THINGS MIGHT GET BETTER.