Community Responsive Public Defense

From the introduction:

“This Essay proceeds in three parts. Part I defines community responsive public defense. Embracing the theme of this colloquium, it situates community responsive defense within the context of increased public awareness of criminal injustice and collective action against mass incarceration. Part II surfaces the work of four public defender organizations that are engaged with and responsive to their communities. Individually and collectively, these organizations strive to combat the structural forces that result in mass criminalization. Part III explores the potential benefits of community responsive defense and identifies some of the practical limitations of community responsive models and of this Essay’s methodology. This Essay concludes with a call for indigent defense providers to embrace community responsive efforts. “