Dear colleague,
Tomorrow, March 18th, NACDL joins the defender community in celebrating Public Defense Day, as we mark the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark Gideon v. Wainwright decision.
Nearly six decades after Gideon, public defense lawyers across the country fight every day to defend their individual clients and, with that, defend and protect this fundamental constitutional right. Indeed, in a nation with approximately 2 million incarcerated people, including nearly 500,000 people detained pretrial, access to the public defense function is a lifeline for so many individuals and families who otherwise could not afford a lawyer.
In the last year especially, a year marked by America’s reckoning with widespread systematic failures fueled by racial inequality as well as the COVID-19 pandemic which has ravaged our country and disproportionately targeted incarcerated individuals and their communities, public defense lawyers have remained committed to Gideon’s promise by being zealous advocates for all those accused of a crime. This year — even more so than normal — public defense lawyers were front-line responders, advocating for the release of thousands of people trapped in jail during the pandemic, calling attention to unsanitary conditions, and assuring the people in our jails and prisons were not forgotten. This unwavering commitment to justice is what NACDL honors and celebrates on Public Defense Day.
Too often, public defense providers across the country, and within NACDL’s membership, toil in environments in which they are overworked, under-resourced, and underpaid. They press on and persevere — despite these obstacles — to defend their clients and to uphold the guarantees of the Constitution. Their advocacy pushes the U.S. towards a more fair and humane criminal legal system every day.
I urge you to join me and take this opportunity to reach out to the public defense community and thank them. Each and every day, the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution lives and breathes, especially for those who need it most, because of their work. For this and for so much more, NACDL wishes public defense providers everywhere a happy Public Defense Day!
Honor and celebrate public defense with NACDL on social media by accessing NACDL’s publicly available social media toolkit with graphics and sample social media language thanking and honoring public defense providers. Use #PublicDefenseDay and remember to tag @NACDL so we can share your support!
Best wishes,
Christopher W. Adams
NACDL President
