Boost public defender pay
Chasm between salaries for prosecutors, defense deserves scrutiny
In criminal trials involving the most serious offenses, the outcome should depend on the facts of the case, the available evidence and proving beyond doubt that the accused carried out the act in question. The competence of the defendant’s counsel shouldn’t be a factor but oftentimes does influence how the proceedings unfold.
That is one leading reason why Virginia should consider increasing public defender pay as part of its ongoing efforts to strengthen the criminal justice system, recognizing that it can help alleviate a host of problems affecting the commonwealth.
The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right of criminal defendants to have the assistance of counsel. The U.S. Supreme Court extended that right to defendants in state felony trials more recently, through its landmark 1963 ruling in Gideon v. Wainwright.
The quality of that counsel is still a matter of debate, and varies greatly from state to state, district to district, and even case to case.
Still, the principle of American law is clear and echoes since ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1791: Individuals charged with serious crimes should have legal representation to defend against those charges in courts. Anything less would condemn countless innocent people with
no knowledge of the legal system — and no ability to mount an adequate defense themselves — to conviction and punishment.
Virginia meets its constitutional obligations to provide legal defense to the accused, paying a starting salary of $55,700 for public defenders. That is less than the $70,000 starting salaries for lawyers in most area prosecutors’ offices and, of course, far less than what someone can earn in private practice.
That disparity between the publicly funded pay for the defense and the prosecution widens over the course of a career, meaning those who dedicate themselves to public service, but ply their trade on different sides of the courtroom, will be compensated far differently based on that choice.
It is a pay scale that effectively discourages well-meaning legal minds from being public defenders. It means fewer lawyers tasked with handling the enormous caseload shouldered by public defenders’ offices. And it means those offices will struggle to retain counselors, especially when well-heeled law firms can offer far larger pay and better benefits.
Some communities have recognized the folly of this situation and moved to address it by providing local stipends to raise public defender pay. In Virginia Beach, the starting salary of $53,000 was “about $20,000 less than the lowest paid attorney in the commonwealth’s attorney’s office.”
The call for leveling the pay scales for prosecutors and public defenders often enjoys the support of prosecutors themselves, who understand the need for both sides of a criminal trial to have adequate legal counsel.
But that helps to create a different kind of imbalance, between jurisdictions that can afford to supplement defender pay and those that cannot. An offender in Virginia Beach shouldn’t enjoy better counsel than someone in a rural corner of the commonwealth merely because the city can pay to recruit and retain more talented lawyers.
It’s important to note that public defenders don’t choose their vocation because it will make them rich. They don’t expect fame. They know that the hours will be long and the work will be hard. They understand they will be overburdened by cases and that they are likely to spend too much time with unsavory individuals.
But they choose this life out of a sense of obligation to the principle that everyone should receive fair and impartial justice, no matter their means or background. They strive to uphold the protections specified in the Constitution and to do their best to ensure the impartiality and adequacy of the criminal justice system.
If Virginia also believes in those principles and is dedicated to the notion of a justice system that serves all people equally, it should consider how to boost public defender pay across the commonwealth and ensure a level playing field for all.