“The right to counsel is a fundamental tenet of the American legal systerm — but the system breaks down when we have public defenders who are overworked and underpaid...” Kamala Harris
Getting a fair trial in the United States should not depend on the balance of your bank account — or whether you even have a bank account or not.
But, it is.
Poorer defendants, already members of the most underserved and marginalized communities, far too often receive exhausted, overworked legal reps who lack the resources necessary to guarantee their clients an effective and just defense. Certainly not in comparison to defendants who can afford the very best representation, and whose only time behind bars until trial is the time it takes their lawyer and bondsman to have them released.
Kamala is taking on the multi-pronged failures in our criminal justice system by fighting from the inside, as she has done her entire career.
“You can bring your advocacy into the office, but do you forever want to be on the stairs yelling and begging for people to support you, your cause? Why can’t you fix it from the inside?”
It was as much a plea as a rallying cry. By then Harris was already formulating her specific brand of fix-it-from-the-inside activism, and one program she created as district attorney would come to embody it: Back on Track. — Mother Jones’ Jamilah King
Kamala’s career as San Francisco’s DA and California’s AG is not without criticism, and you can find the NYT Op-Ed of a vocal critic HERE. I don’t think any of us are burying our heads in the proverbial sand on this or any other issue, and the more information we have, the better we can support/defend our candidate, or criticize/push her to change. I also hope you read THIS ARTICLE published in the January/February 2018 issue of Mother Jones.
It’s gonna take some digging into the past in order to debate and resolve these issues in the present, IMO. This is just scratching the surface, and in future morning posts we’ll dig in to her prosecutorial history in greater detail.
At She The People, less than a month ago, many in the country were first introduced to Kamala when she spoke on Criminal Justice Reform, marijuana legalization and the failed War on Drugs, among many other important issues. We also know of her work on Cash Bail legislation, and I’ll always be impressed by how Kamala can talk so comfortably and directly about the interconnections between of all these difficult issues.
Today’s Roundup starts with her current legislation, The EQUAL Defense Act, submitted 9 days ago. This is another great example of her Campaigning by LegislatingCwV, leaving no doubt about her stances on myriad issues. What follows is from her Senate Office Press Release:
May 08, 2019
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Kamala D. Harris (D-CA) on Wednesday introduced the Ensuring Quality Access to Legal Defense (EQUAL Defense) Act of 2019. The legislation aims to support public defender systems, which are straining to uphold the constitutional right to counsel for indigent defendants as required by the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Gideon v. Wainwright decision.
“After spending my career around the criminal justice system, I've seen up close how it can fail to ensure that poor defendants receive a fair trial and due process, as guaranteed to all of us in our Constitution,” said Sen. Harris. “All too often, our public defenders are overworked and lack sufficient resources. This makes public defense unsustainable over the long haul. And the thing that suffers is the integrity of our system of justice, which is supposed to be based on fairness and equality. It's wrong, and it's the opposite of justice.”
“I have introduced the EQUAL Defense Act to give public defenders the tools they need to ensure a more effective criminal justice system and to deliver on Gideon’s promise,” Harris added.
The EQUAL Defense Act will provide financial support for public defense systems and training programs that aim to improve the delivery of legal services to indigent criminal defendants.
The bill:
- Creates a new $250 million grant program to fund public defense, including establishing:
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- Workload limits for full-time public defenders.
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- Pay parity between public defenders and prosecutors within five years.
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- Annual data on public defender workloads, including the number of hours worked per month and the percentage of hours worked per month across a range of tasks.
- Authorizes $5 million for non-profit and government organizations to provide comprehensive training for public defenders.
- Reauthorizes the student loan repayment program, increases the overall authorization amount from $25 million to $75 million, and increases per borrower repayment limits.
- Requires Byrne-JAG recipients to provide data about the extent to which the state is providing public defenders to those in need.
The EQUAL Defense Act is supported by Gideon’s Promise, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), National Association for Public Defense (NAPD), National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA), NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Lawyers’ Committee for Civil and Human Rights, Color of Change, and Project on Government Oversight (POGO).
I hope everyone can find the time during what will definitely be a long campaign, to educate ourselves on the issues and march forward with knowledge and confidence. We need “critical thinking” not “group think”, and for that we’re gonna need to devour an enormous amount of info 😋
Kamala is speaking out daily on so many different fronts, it’s gonna take a lot for us to just keep up!
In her own words
This
and this
Let’s get involved!
If you’d like to volunteer to host one of our Kamala 2020 diaries, please leave your comment in the ”Calling all Volunteers” thread.
We have Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Fri covered,
Wed, Sat and Sun still available
Even if you can’t committ to a weekly slot due to your busy schedules, guest bloggers are definitely welcomed!
Tues. May 21 — noweasels 💜
Wed. May 22 — Onomastic 💛
Thurs. May 23 — noweasels ❤️
Let your voices be heard!
*Please remember this is a Kamala2020 group effort, and is not a Daily Kos sponsored or endorsed activity!
Upcoming events
May 19: Join Kamala Harris in Los Angeles where She Will Hold Her First Campaign Organizing Event At 2:30 pm PDT, 1600 W Imperial Hwy, Los Angeles, CA 90047
Please Join Kamala for a Reception in West Hollywood
May 22: Camp Kamala Session 1, 7:00–8:00pm EDT
Join Camp Kamala, an online organizing program designed by Kamala's organizing team to give you the tools to organize your community and connect you with fellow leaders across the country.
May 28: Kamala returning to South Carolina! This will be her first trip upstate.
@Lawrence will host a live @MSNBC town hall special event with 2020 presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris on Tuesday, May 28, at 7 p.m. PT / 10 p.m. ET in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
June 1: 2020 presidential hopefuls will take the stage at MoveOn's "Big Ideas Forum"
June 8: Harris will be the keynote speaker at the Kennedy-Johnson-King luncheon. The convention will be held at Montgomery’s Renaissance Hotel.
June 8: Kamala Harris will be addressing the @SCNAACP at their Freedom Fund Dinner in Columbia SC. The banquet will be held at the Brookland Baptist conference center in West Columbia.
June 26-27: The first debates will be held in Miami, Florida, and will be broadcast live on NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo.
July 30-31: The second debates will be held on July 30th and 31st in Detroit, Michigan, and will be broadcast live on CNN
Please remember to visit our community group page Kamala2020 and give us a follow, that way all our group efforts will appear in your stream. This makes it easy for everyone to keep up with our latest posts. As always, any who would like to join our group please leave us a comment and we’ll get your invitation right out to you!
While you’re here, don’t forget to visit Kamala’s Official Campaign Website and her Swag Shop for your favorite campaign gear! 😄
If you’re on Twitter, please follow @KamalaHarris
on Instagram: @kamalaharris
and facebook: KamalaHarris
Other great follows on Twitter are some of her campain staff:
Maya Harris, Campaign chair @mayaharris_
Ian Sams, National Press Secretary @IanSams
Lily Adams, Communications Director @adamslily
Kate Waters, Traveling Press Secretary @K8_Waters
Laphonza Butler, Senior advisor @LaphonzaB
David Huynh, Senior advisor @KeepHuynhing
Nathan Barankin, Senior advisor @nathanbarankin
Emmy Ruiz, Senior advisor @emmyruiz
Courtni Pugh, CA State director @courtni_pugh
thanks, moondac for helping us get this list together
Group Guidelines
The Kamala2020 community group has been created to positively support Senator Kamala Harris, and not to engage in negativity towards other community members or any other Democrats running in the 2020 primaries.
All should be made to feel welcomed here. What’s not welcomed here is petty bickering over any of our preferred candidates, or personal attacks on fellow Democrats. We’re not responsible for the actions of others who may offend, insult or attempt to sow discord and disunity — that’s on them.
What we are responsible for are our own words and actions — that’s 100% on us.
I’d like to ask all group members, as well as those dropping by who support or are interested in Kamala’s bid for the nomination, that we not respond to negativity from other campaign’s supporters with negativity. Let’s do better than our best and respond with respect, humor or try to hold our peace. Doing no harm costs us nothing... pie-fights will cost us everything.
💙💙💙 Happy Friday Joyful Warriors! 💙💙💙
What a performance by Jhud, one of my favorites :o)