2016 Year in Review
As the fiscal crisis that began in 2015 was fully realized in 2016, we gathered to declare why we fight, why we remain when the stakes continue to rise and injustice grows large. The answers varied, but the dedication and passion were similar.
2015 Year in Review
Public defense in New Orleans, across Louisiana and throughout our country is in crisis. 2015 saw a continuation of yearly funding shortages and cuts. Years of chronic underfunding due to Louisiana’s user-pay criminal justice system – a system where public defender budgets depend on traffic fines and other fees charged to their poor clients – gave way to the worst public defense crisis since Hurricane Katrina. The shortfalls prompted cuts and service restrictions for the Orleans Public Defenders(OPD).
2014 Year in Review
In 2014, OPD fought for dignity, fairness and justice more than 21,000 times in Criminal, Juvenile, Municipal and Traffic Courts. We made significant advances in juvenile mitigation, bond advocacy and mental health representation, and laid the groundwork to reduce recidivism with diversion and alternatives to incarceration programs. Our 2014 Annual Report highlights our work to create a better, more just criminal justice system
2013 Year in Review
Fifty years ago, a Florida drifter changed the legal landscape forever. In five handwritten pages to the U.S. Supreme Court, Clarence Earl Gideon asserted he ahd the right to a lawyer - even with no money in his pocket. The United States Supreme Court agreed. In the landmark case, Gideon v. Wainwright, the Court ruled the right to a lawyer is fundamental, essential to the fair trial and cannot be denied. Moreover, the right means everyone is entitiled to effective representation. The Orleans Public Defenders Office (OPD) strives each day to provide our clients zealous legal representaion, breathing life into this constitutional guarantee.
We all have much in common with Clarence Gideon. We believe in fairness and justice. Further, we are taught that fairness and justice are owed - inalienable - to all of us. What we may forget is, in the end, we are all Gideon.
2012 Year in Review
As public defenders, we often compare our work to fighting a war - a war to guarantee the Constitutional right to counsel for every poor person in Orleans Parish. Each day OPD is on the front lines, doing battle in that war. In 2012, OPD faced one of its toughest battles. Budget shortfalls, layoffs, restrictions of services and increasing caseloads tested our commitment and made us question what we fight for.
2011 Year in Review
The hard work and motivation of our staff was as evident as ever in 2011. OPD represented indigent clients in nearly 9,000 felony cases and over 20,000 misdemeanor cases. We closed a total of 22,125 cases. Misdemeanors, probation violations, municipal and traffic cases accounted for 16,690 while felonies closed in at 5,435.
OPD relies on specialized divisions to ensure our clients receive the meaningful representation they deserve. In 2011, each of these divisions played an integral role in our success.
