By Lauren Forbes

In a new study, a senior judge and law professor examine rising costs of the death penalty in California. As the LA Times reports, without major reforms, they conclude, capital punishment will continue to exist mostly in theory while exacting an untenable cost.  The study reveals that the death penalty costs California $184 million per year.

The examination of state, federal and local expenditures for capital cases, conducted over three years by a senior federal judge and a law professor, estimated that the additional costs of capital trials, enhanced security on death row and legal representation for the condemned adds $184 million to the budget each year.

The study’s authors, U.S. 9th Circuit Judge Arthur L. Alarcon and Loyola Law School professor Paula M. Mitchell, also forecast that the tab for maintaining the death penalty will climb to $9 billion by 2030, when San Quentin’s death row will have swollen to well over 1,000.

In their research for “Executing the Will of the Voters: A Roadmap to Mend or End the California Legislature’s Multi-Billion-Dollar Death Penalty Debacle,” Alarcon and Mitchell obtained California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation records that were unavailable to others who have sought to calculate a cost-benefit analysis of capital punishment.

The bottom line is that unless profound reforms are made by lawmakers who have failed to adopt previous recommendations for rescuing the system, Alarcon and Mitchell find, capital punishment will continue to exist mostly in theory while exacting an untenable cost.

A fact that might surprise some is that a death penalty prosecution costs up to 20 times as much as a life-without-parole case.

Federal judges find fault with about 70% of the California death row prisoners’ convictions and send them back to the trial courts for further proceedings, the report noted. That could make the state vulnerable to charges of denying inmates due process, the authors warned.

The report also says the corrections department and the Legislative Analyst’s Office failed to honestly assess and disclose to the public what 30 years of tough-on-crime legislation and ballot measures actually cost.

“We hope that California voters, informed of what the death penalty actually costs them, will cast their informed votes in favor of a system that makes sense,” the report concludes.

By: Steve Grumm

The Legal Services Corporation, a quasi-governmental entity which channels federal funding to civil legal services providers throughout the U.S. states and territories and which is the single largest source of funding for legal services for the poor, is facing the potential for sizeable cuts that will force staff cuts and result in fewer clients served.  LSC and its 130+ grantee organizations are sitting squarely, and uncomfortably, between the metaphorical rock and hard place.  At precisely the time when some federal legislators are discussing large-scale cuts to numerous federal programs in the name of fiscal austerity, swollen numbers of poor people and families – the unemployed, children, and victims of domestic violence – are seeking free legal aid to help them out of crisis.  So as Congress is gearing up for debate on a Fiscal Year 2012 funding plan, LSC grantees face the grim prospect of having to do more with considerably less – a minefield they’ve already been traversing because other, non-federal funding sources have depleted in the recession’s wake.

Linda Perle at the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) has authored a very helpful LSC funding update, offering the particulars about what has happened to LSC funding in recent budget debates and which direction the winds are blowing in as Congressional hearings on LSC’s funding are set to begin in July.  Some noteworthy language from Linda’s piece:

Concern abounds regarding LSC funding for FY 2012, which will begin on Oct. 1, 2011.  FY 2011 funding totals $404.19 million, which represents a $15.81 million cut from LSC’s FY 2010 funding level of $420 million.  The House and Senate adopted this amount after the House passed an FY 2011 Continuing Resolution (CR) that would have  cut $70 million for LSC from its FY 2010 level, and reduced LSC’s funding to FY 2008 levels.  Under the House version of the CR, all of the $70 million cut would have come out of LSC’s basic field grants that support the 136 legal aid programs providing basic legal assistance to low-income people across the country.

LSC has asked Congress to appropriate $516.5 million for FY 2012.  President Obama’s budget request sought $450 million for LSC.  However, during the April 5, 2011, hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies (CJS) on the FY 2012 LSC budget, there was again discussion of returning LSC funding to the FY 2008 level — all in the name of deficit reduction.  The FY 2012 House budget resolution (the Ryan Bill), which proposes $6 trillion in overall budget cuts over 10 years and an overhaul of entitlement programs, did not include any specific cuts for LSC or other agencies, but also suggested that funding of discretionary programs should be cut to FY 2008 levels. 

Subcommittee mark-up on the House 2012 CJS bill is scheduled for July 7, followed by full committee mark-up on July 13.  We anticipate that the House will cut LSC’s overall FY 2012 budget to its FY 2008 level of $340.49 million.  However, it is not clear whether this budget will follow the FY 2008 allocation among LSC’s programs and divisions, providing approximately $332.4 million for basic field grant funding, or will do as was proposed in House version of the 2011 CR and take all of the cuts out of the funds allocated to basic field grants, leaving only $324.4 million for basic field grant funding.

By: Steve Grumm

The WSJ Law Blog noted that a Mississippi state court judge will be formally reprimanded for tossing in the clink an attorney who did not recite the Pleadge in the judge’s courtroom.  This proves that courtrooms and Catholic school classrooms are very different places.  Had I refused to stand, hand over heart, and recite the Pledge in grade school, I’d have faced the wrath of a very angry nun…exponentially more frightening than anything this judge could have done.

(Original reporting by the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.)

By: Steve Grumm

The Boston Globe has a nice exit interview of sorts with Bob Sable, the executive director of Greater Boston Legal Services, who’s retiring after decades of service, helping those on society’s margins find meaningful access to justice.  Some notable, and candid, quotes:

Q. What inspired you to go into legal aid?

A. This was the time of the War on Poverty, and what inspired me was the notion that lawyers could do for the poor what they had always done for the well-to-do. The guiding light of my career has been to use the law and legal tools to help people get out of poverty.

Q. What progress have you seen over 20 years, or has there been regression?

A. That’s a very tough question. The notion that government could deal arbitrarily with poor people was in retreat, but now we’ve seen a lot of setbacks. If you look at the ultimate question — Is the poverty rate lower now than it was? — the changes have been very marginal.

…

Q. You obviously don’t get rich at a job like this.

A. Our starting salaries are in the mid-40s, and associates in big law firms are earning $160,000. So there’s a huge gap. And on top of that the student loan burden is so great. I have a lot of admiration for young lawyers who are sticking with it.

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers!  To begin with shameless self-promotion: if you’re inclined to use the Twitters, please follow us at @PSLawNet.  We tweet all of our blog posts along with pieces of timely public interest career and funding news.  And we don’t tweet immodest photos of ourselves.

Also, I apologize for publishing the Bulletin a few minutes late this morning.  The Philadelphia Phillies kept me up until 12:30am last night, only to fall apart on defense, surrendering to the lowly Cubs of Chicago in extra innings.  And now I’ll have to hear about it from the Chicago Bar Foundation folks, which is even worse.

This week we present a Bulletin rich with funding news, although certainly not all of this news speaks to the riches of public interest funding: good news for Lone Star State legal services and indigent defense advocates; but in the Bay State, elected officials may still need some prodding; Have Justice Will Travel urgently needs money to keep moving; in Jacksonville, FL, the city council may boost legal services funding in the wake of state gov’t. stinginess; Legal Services of New Jersey sure could use a funding boost, too; the DOJ’s AtJ program has a new chief; and speaking of DOJ, some advice on becoming an AUSA.

• 6.9.11 – some terrific news out of Texas.  After a legislative roller coaster ride, the state house and senate are in agreement on funding both civil legal services and indigent defense.   From the Tex Parte blog: “Representatives approved an amendment on a general appropriations bill that would add $17.6 million over the biennium for indigent civil legal aid, as well as $7.6 million for indigent criminal defense.”  There had been some back-and-forth on the senate side, too, but that chamber ultimately came through with funding.  “[Now], the House and Senate versions include the same language about indigent legal aid funding. If the bill moves to conference committee, lawmakers would only focus on smoothing out differences.”

• 6.7.11 – in the Patriot Ledger of Quincy, Massachusetts, corporate counsel heavy-hitter and Greater Boston Legal Services board member Thomas Gunning pens an op-ed highlighting the importance of adequately funding civil legal services.   After noting some of GBLS’s most important, recent work in helping low-income clients, Gunning looks at the precarious state of funding:  “The need for services is way up in our tough economy and funding is way down.  While private lawyers give millions in support each year, a large portion of budgets come from state funding and interest earned on money held in short-term escrow accounts… For fiscal year 2010, the state cut the legal aid budget by $1.5 million from $11 million to $9.5 million.  At the same time, [IOLTA funding is down].  So with need at record levels, legal aid organizations have been forced to lay off lawyers and staff. They must turn away many more eligible clients than they can represent resulting in denied justice and avoidable social service costs…. After the painful 2010 cuts, the governor and Legislature ‘level funded’ legal aid in 2011 at the reduced amount. The governor’s fiscal year 2012 submitted budget also proposes level funding and the Legislature has shown signs of doing the same. We should certainly hope the final 2012 state budget level funds legal aid so that those in need have access to justice, and we can protect our social service spending from avoidable additional costs.”

• 6.7.11 – a piece in Vermont’s Bennington Banner looks at the work, and financial woes, of Have Justice Will Travel, a thinly staffed organization that provides legal services to domestic violence victims.  Times are very tough indeed on the finance front.  A reduction in a DOJ grant forced the closure of an office, and this summer most of HJWT’s staff are being asked to take a (hopefully) temporary layoff.  The organization is presently scrambling to cobble together more grant funding.

• 6.7.11 – the Daily Record reports that some of the funding cuts that Jacksonville Area Legal Aid will suffer as a result of the Florida governor’s civil legal services funding veto may be offset by Jacksonville City Council: “City Council member Kevin Hyde introduced bill 2010-766 to establish a $40 court fee on felonies, misdemeanors and criminal traffic infractions to provide assistance for foreclosure programs for the disadvantaged through JALA.  An amendment to the original ordinance requested the fee be increased to $50 because of recent budget cuts for JALA at the state level.”

• 6.7.11 – a piece on MyCentralJersey.com looks closely at the dire funding situation of Legal Services of New Jersey: “[LSNJ President Melville D. Miller, Jr.] said that during the past three years, Legal Services of New Jersey has lost a third of its staff and a third of its funding — going from $72 million to $46 million in operating revenue as its staff fell from 720 to 490 attorneys with another 75 advocate set to be lost this year.  Meanwhile, Miller said, poverty in New Jersey has spiked by 8.4 percent over the last year.”  The article also looks at the efforts of Assemblyman Peter J. Barnes, III and other to restore some state funding, and to shore it up in both the shorter and longer term.

• 6.2.11 – there’s a new sheriff in town at the DOJ’s access to justice office.  Main Justice reports: “About six months after the departure of Laurence Tribe as Senior Counselor of the Justice Department Access to Justice Initiative, his successor is in place.  Mark Childress on Thursday was sworn in as the leader of the program that focuses on access to legal services for the poor.  He most recently was the acting General Counsel at the Department of Health and Human Services.”  Childress has a fairly varied resume, including a stint as a partner at Foley Hoag, some high-level staff work in the White House and on the Hill, and even some work with an aboriginal business development entity in Australia.

• June, 2011 – a former Assistant U.S. Attorney contributes a piece to this month’s edition of the ABA’s Young Lawyer, explaining how one may land one of these coveted, federal positions: “Assistant U.S. Attorneys…are experienced trial attorneys who come from a variety of backgrounds, including both the public and private sectors, as well as the military. Generally, the attorneys have five to seven years of litigation experience before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office. While many aspects of a particular applicant are considered, trial experience is the most significant requirement. A strong working knowledge of the Federal Rules of Evidence and Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure is important.”

By Lauren Forbes

Happy Thursday! It is time for the weekly roundup of some of our favorite posts from the public interest blogosphere. With no further ado…

• 6.9.11 SCOTUS to Rule on Right to Counsel in Collateral Proceedings. Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog includes a piece on the Supreme Court agreeing to hear a case that will test how firm the distinction between  a right to counsel at the first level of direct appeal and the right to counsel at collateral post-conviction proceedings.
  
• 6.8.11 The Povery Law Blog discusses Yonatan Ben-Shalom, Robert A. Moffitt, and John Karl Scholz’s NBER Working Paper, An Assessment of the Effectiveness of Anti-Poverty Programs in the United States.  In  which direction does the  U.S. benefit system tilt?
  
• 6.6.11 DC budget and safety net programs cut, but not eliminated. Some of the hardest-hit social safety net programs, TANF,  homeless services, and Interim Disability Assistance (IDA) were restored or preserved.
• 6.6.11 Heather Jarvis tells us five ways IBR beats ICR.  Important bottom line: monthly payments are typically higher under income-contingent repayment than under income-based repayment.
• 6.6.11 Technola’s timely post about igniting your community referenced  last week’s Legal Services NTAP (National Technology Assistance Project) post.  Ideas include TED, CommonCraft, and others.
• 6.3.11 Partnering to aid our nation’s veterans, a piece in the Equal Justice Works Blog. Public Counsel has partnered with the Southern California Salvation Army to help provide legal services to hundreds of homeless veterans and their families in the Los Angeles area. The blog also highlight’s The Salvation Army‘s piece on how legal help is often the missing piece in a veteran’s recovery.

By: Steve Grumm

On the libertarian-leaning Reason website, Bruce Western, a professor of sociology and director of the Program in Inequality and Social Policy at Harvard University, looks at some of the longer-term, negative effects of imprisonment:

Do prisons make us safer? By taking would-be offenders off the streets, prisons clearly have reduced crime in the short run. In the long run, though, imprisonment erodes the bonds of work, family, and community that help preserve public safety.

[Tip of cap to Andrew Sullivan’s The Dish blog.]

[Editor’s Note: we’re reviving our Expert Opinion series this summer, so that we can bring you advice and wisdom from a broad cross section of today’s and tomorrow’s public service advocates.  Look for an Expert Opinion post every Tuesday. Our first such post sets the bar pretty high, coming from our friend and colleague Deb Ellis at NYU Law.  Thanks, Deb!]

By: Deb Ellis*, Assistant Dean for Public Service, NYU School of Law

Summer in NYC on the Cheap!

Are you a student interning in New York City this summer on a public interest stipend? There are many articles out there to help you maximize the educational value of your internship.  Today we want to give you tips on how to flourish while being frugal!

While New York City has a reputation for being expensive, it also boasts numerous cheap outdoor eats, entertaining inexpensive or even free activities, and great outdoor events. NYU School of Law has compiled a “Guide to Living in New York on a Public Interest Salary” that has lots of great advice. Below are ten tips from the Guide on how to enjoy NYC while saving your cash (selected especially for folks who are here on summer internships.)

1) Ride the Staten Island Ferry

Perhaps the best-kept secret in NYC, the Staten Island Ferry is the cheapest option for that breathtaking glimpse of major sights like the Statue of Liberty, Governor’s Island, and the downtown skyline. It is FREE. It has a coffee shop on board. It also sells inexpensive beer: one NYU student calls it “the best bar in the city.” And if you’re a baseball fan, tickets are cheap to watch the “Staten Island Yankees” play in the stadium next to the ferry terminal on the Staten Island side.

2) Eat at Roving Restaurants and Farmer’s Markets

Need a great bite on the go? While you should definitely sample from NYC’s ubiquitous hot dog and pretzel carts, a gourmet food truck is a fun way to partake of great cuisine on a budget. While many trucks have semi-permanent locations, most trucks post where they’ll be on their twitter or webpage. Some great ones include Wafels & Dinges, Rickshaw Dumpling Truck, and Moshe’s Falafel.

You may be surprised to learn that NYC now hosts dozens of Farmers Markets in all 5 boroughs, http://www.grownyc.org/ourmarkets, where you can buy super fresh and delicious produce!

3) Enjoy some Gelato or Other Frozen Treats

From Grom to Il Laboratorio del Gelato there is no summer treat New Yorkers have become fonder of. Another favorite local summertime dessert is tart frozen yogurt available from the original yogurt outpost Pinkberry or one of many followers.

4) See a Play at a Discount…

Manhattan: it's not Philly, but it's not too shabby

TKTS – the Theater Development Fund’s project to help make theater more accessible – offers same day, half priced tickets to Broadway and Off-Broadway shows. The line might be long, but it is worth it. There are two locations: one in Times Square and the other in the South Street Seaport. Don’t forget about Student Rush offers (each theater has its own policy so check their website) which provide students tickets for $20-$30 or the Public Theater’s free summer Shakespeare in the Park.

4) …Or a Movie or Museum for Free!

Many public parks offer a free outdoor movie series. RiverFlicks at Hudson River Park, HBO Bryan Park Film Series, and Outdoor Cinema at the Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens are among local favorites. Also, the MoMA, the Brooklyn Museum, the Guggenheim, and many more museums all have at least one free night a month, if not once a week.

5) Don’t Just Sit There … Bike, Skate, or Swing!

Renting a bike is a great way to enjoy the City; you can rent from Tribeca’s Frank’s Bike Shop to Midtown’s Central Park Bike Rental and everywhere in between. You can bike up nearly the entire Hudson River on the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway or find your own favorite path at http://www.nycbikemaps.com.

Visit Union Square Park on Wednesday nights for a free group skate or head up to Lincoln Center for a swing lesson and open dance at A Midsummer’s Night Swing for $17 – or sit and listen for free!

6) Explore NYC’s layered history

Amidst tall skyscrapers and modern plazas, layers of history wait to be discovered in all 5 boroughs. There’s no better way to get to know your neighborhood, or someone else’s, then by taking a walking tour or guiding yourself on your own. To complement your public service work, visit some of the City’s radical history sites such as:

• African Burial Ground, where free and enslaved African Americans were buried during the 17th and 18th centuries
• Cooper Union, where in 1860 Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous Cooper Union Address
• Site of Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911, which spurred the labor movement
• Stonewall Inn, 1969 birthplace of the modern gay rights movement

7) Visit a Public Park or Public Beach

Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pelham Bay Park, and The High Line are just a few of the city’s expansive, beautiful parks. Some have great summer music festivals with many free events, like Central Park’s SummerStage. You can take a free ferry to Governor’s Island and rent a bike or enjoy a homemade picnic. Rockaway Beach is a free way to beat the heat while Long Beach and Jones Beach will cost you from $ 8 – $14 per visit. For more information, visit www.nycgovparks.org.

8) De- Stress In The Great Outdoors

After long days in an office or court room, relax beside the Hudson River at one of the summer’s many outdoor yoga sessions. Additionally, Bryant Park offers free Tuesday morning and Thursday evening yoga and Open Air Yoga offers classes in Battery Park City in the morning and Central Park in the evening for $12.

9) Buy At a Discount

These days Kmart, JCPenny, Target, Marshalls, Ikea, and Costco can be found in multiple boroughs. Go with a friend and stock up for savings or hit their clothing departments for low cost professional wear. Trader Joe’s has also opened up several outposts in Manhattan and Brooklyn.  Finally, do your research and sign up for group coupon sites; there are great deals to be had all summer long.

I hope that these tips help you have a fun, relaxing, and memorable summer in New York City!

*Thanks to Dana Wax and Vesna Petrin for assistance with this article.

By: Steve Grumm

The National Law Journal reports on a nice bit of news for my peeps in Penn’s Toll Public Interset Center – cash money!

The University of Pennsylvania Law School has a generous alumnus in construction mogul Robert Toll.

Toll and his wife, Jane Toll, donated $10 million to the law school in 2006 to bolster its public-interest initiatives. On Monday, the school announced that the couple has pledged an additional $2.5 million to expand those programs and finance loan forgiveness for graduates who take public-interest law jobs.

By: Steve Grumm

The Tex Parte Blog reports the latest:

Supporters of indigent civil legal services say they expect to see a Texas representative file an amendment on a general appropriations bill adding state funding for indigent civil legal aid and indigent defense. The appropriations bill, Senate Bill 2, passed the Senate on June 3, and the House on Thursday is scheduled to hear a House committee version of the bill. Representatives must pre-file all amendments by Wednesday at 5 p.m.