- Many public defender clients will be eligible for Medicaid for the first time under the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or 'Obamacare'). The ACA expanded Medicaid by making it available to any person with income under 138% of the Federal Poverty Level, though the Supreme Court said states did not have to participate, and not all have. Jail inmates typically have no health care insurance, but also commonly have mental health or drug treatment needs (both of which the ACA covers) with the result some states and localities are using jails as sign-up stations for Obamacare and Medicaid enrollment, including the jail in Albany County. Prison inmate health care remains state-funded under Obamacare with the exception of hospital stays over 24 hours, but the prospect of providing 'continuity of care' after release has led some to speculate (as in this Newsweek article, this Bloomberg one, and this one in the Atlantic) that reoffending might actually go down if former inmates are able to receive treatment for their medical and drug dependency problems. For further reading, see also this helpful document from the ACLU and this one from the Bureau of Justice Assistance.
- Saratoga County is expecting shortly to appoint its first Conflict Defender according to this article in the Daily Gazette.
- CNN began broadcasting the series Death Row Stories on March 9 with the story of Edward Lee Elmore. Replete with suggestions of evidence tampering, poor defense lawyering, and, above all, a persuasive claim of Elmore's innocence, this first in a series of hour-long documentaries hinted at the many hidden dangers inherent to the practice of capital punishment.
- Discussions over how to reorganize conflict case representation in Monroe County took another turn recently according to this article in the Democrat and Chronicle.
- A defender's working relationship with the prosecutor may affect how a case plays out according to a recent survey of prosecutorial discretion funded by the Federal government. The prosecutors stated good working relationships with defenders were important to their success, but also that they would not generally change key decisions in the case because of those relationships (see these graphs for a summary). The prosecutors also described how they were able to 'punish' uncooperative defense attorneys by scheduling cases in a way that prevented the attorney from preparing properly, though they emphasized the intent was not to punish the defendant but only their lawyer. The full citation of the study is: Frederick, B. and Stemen, D. (2012), The Anatomy of Discretion: An Analysis of Prosecutorial Decision Making.
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