Oregon's Public Defender Crisis
Shannon I. Wilson ((they/them) Executive Director Public Defender of Marion County, Inc.), Paige Clarkson (Marion County District Attorney), Jessica Kampfe (Executive Director Oregon Office of Public Defense Services), Hon. Tracy Prall (Presiding Judge Marion County Circuit Court)
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There is a nationwide shortage of public defenders. The shortage is
especially acute in Oregon. There are several reasons for this, the
main one appearing to be a lack of funding. This has led to the
abrogation of the constitutional right to have an attorney for at
least 500 defendants and to unconstitutionally long detentions of
some of them. At least 300 cases in Multnomah County alone have
been dismissed; there simply was no one to represent the
defendants, preventing the criminal cases from legally
proceeding.
According to Mike Schmidt, the Multnomah County District Attorney, “This is a public defender crisis.“ Carl Macpherson, Executive Director of Metropolitan Public Defender in Portland, commented on OPB’s Think Out Loud, “This is a total public safety system
failure.”
Please join us to hear a panel of experts discuss this important issue.
