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The right to counsel in criminal cases is, by now, well established in a series of United States Supreme Court precedents. And yet, local jurisdictions have for too long found themselves under-resourced, and out-gunned in their quest to provide not just constitutionally sufficient and competent representation, but excellent representation—free of charge to indigent criminal defendants. 

Pennsylvania, until as recently as December 2023, was one of only two states in the nation, the other being South Dakota, that provided no state support for local public defenders offices. Through the passage of Act 34 last year this is now changed. Act 34, in addition to providing state funding for local public defenders offices, also established the Indigent Defense Advisory Committee. 

We are joined today by the Chair of that committee, Sara Jacobson, who is also the Executive Director of the Public Defenders Association of Pennsylvania, as well as by a member of the committee and the President of the Public Defenders Association of Pennsylvania, Julia Burke.

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Confessions by criminal defendants are regarded as the most powerful evidence of guilt. So why would an innocent person confess to a crime they did not commit? That question and the troubling issue of false confessions is at the heart of the research of Professor Saul Kassin, the author of Duped: Why Innocent People Confess – and Why We Believe Their Confessions. Professor Kassin is the distinguished Professor of Psychology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Professor Emeritus at Williams College. He is regarded as the foremost expert on false confessions. He has served as an expert consultant in many high-profile cases and as a TV analyst. His work has been widely cited including by the United States Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court of Canada. We are also joined by Professor Jules Epstein from Temple University Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia. Professor Epstein is a practicing criminal defense lawyer, and also an expert on scientific evidence. He is the co-author of Scientific Evidence Review: Admissibility and the Use of Expert Evidence in the Courtroom, Monograph No. 9 

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The prospect of long-term solitary confinement, being housed alone in custody for months and sometimes even years, is daunting for criminal defendants and their counsel. In May 2023, two public interest organizations, The Italian Association Antigone and the Israeli organization, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, proposed the International Guiding Statement on Alternatives to Solitary Confinement. We are pleased to have with us two guests: Professor Keramet Reiter & Oneg Ben Dror. Professor Reiter is a member of the Department of Criminology, Law and Society at the University of California Irvine Law School. Professor Reiter is the author of 23/7: Pelican Bay Prison and the Rise of Long-Term Solitary Confinement, published by Yale University Press. Ms. Ben Dror is a project coordinator for the Physicians for Human Rights Israel, and was involved in the drafting of the International Guiding Statement on Alternatives to Solitary Confinement. Our guests are the co-authors, along with Dana Moss, of a recent article: Overview of the International Guiding Statement on Alternatives to Solitary Confinement in the Criminal Justice Magazine. 

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On September 26, 2020, then-President Donald Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the United States Supreme Court. Upon confirmation, Justice Barrett took the seat of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who had passed away one week before Justice Barrett's nomination. Writing in the Fall 2023 issue of the Criminal Justice Magazine, Daniel Kaplan observes that Justice Barrett's voting pattern in the court's criminal cases has been notably Scalia-esque. That's perhaps not surprising, given that Justice Barrett was a law clerk for Justice Scalia after her graduation from Notre Dame Law School. She remains the only former Scalia clerk among the 9 justices currently on the court. Daniel Kaplan is an Assistant Federal Public Defender in Phoenix, Arizona. His article is "Amy Coney Barrett: A Mellower Scalia". 

You can read his article here

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Our guest is Professor Lucian Dervan, the founding Director of the Plea Bargaining Institute and a Professor of Law and Director of Criminal Justice Studies at Belmont University College of Law in Nashville, TN.  Professor Dervan is co-chair of the ABA's Criminal Justice Section Plea Bargaining Taskforce and co-author of the forthcoming book, "The Cost of Bargains: Reflections and Recommendations" from the Section's Plea Bargaining Task Force.

Read the Fourteen Principles and a Path Forward for Plea Bargaining Reform, by Lucian E. Dervan here

Read the ABA CJS Plea Bargaining Task Force Report here

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Larry Krasner is a former criminal defense and civil rights lawyer who has become one of the most high profile inner city District Attorneys to lead the city prosecutor’s office of any major city. He has made waves for his controversial—and some would say progressive—policy positions on hot button issues like mass incarceration, decriminalization of minor drug possession, police misconduct, and wrongful convictions. He was first elected as District Attorney for Philadelphia in 2017 and re-elected in 2021, after running his own criminal defense firm, where he brought over 75 civil suits against law enforcement for misconduct. Even earlier in his career he worked as a public defender.

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It takes about 3 hours to drive from Greenwich, Connecticut to the Federal Correctional Institution,  Allenwood Low in Pennsylvania. Jeffery D. Grant knows this because he took that drive on an Easter Sunday in 2006. A lawyer whose life has taken a wrong turn on  the road to addiction, Jeff Grant left the upscale life he had cultivated in Connecticut to enter what would be his new home for the duration of his 18-month Federal criminal sentence. The story of his rise, fall, and redemption is recounted in an article by Evan Osnos in The New Yorker. Jeff Grant has also been featured in Forbes, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Greenwich Magazine, and Business Insider. Jeff was released from custody in 2007 and was able to recover from addiction, obtain a divinity degree, start a law firm, and start a number of non-profit support groups focused on reentry to society in support of defendants and their families.

Read The New Yorker article here

Read Jeff's CJS Magazine article, "A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats: Progressive Diversion and Reentry, 'Problem-to-Pardon' Case Management" here

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Our guests have spent their careers advocating for some of the most vulnerable citizens in our country's legal system-our nation's children. Kristin Henning is the Blume Professor of Law and Director of the Juvenile Justice Clinic Initiative at Georgetown Law School and the author of "The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth". Marsha Levick is the co-founder and Chief Legal Officer of the Juvenile Law Center, which has been advocating for young people's rights for nearly 50 years. 

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In this episode, Joe Whitley and Lynsey Barron discuss corporate monitorships with Ling-Ling Nie,  who is the Deputy General Counsel, Chief Compliance & ESG Officer, Head of Government Affairs at Aura and Scott Marrah, Partner at White Collar Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations  at Kilpatrick Townsend. 

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Gurbir Grewal has been the Director of the Enforcement Division at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission since 2001.  Prior to that, he had the distinction of being the first Sikh American to be Attorney General in any of the fifty states, and only the second South Asian to hold such an office after the former Attorney General of California, Kamala Harris.  Gurbir was the Chief Prosecutor of Bergen County in New Jersey, and before that the Head of the Economic Crimes Unit in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey.  Justin and Gurbir sat down for a “fireside chat” at the annual White Collar Conference of the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (PACDL).  The episode was recorded in front of a live audience, with PACDL’s permission.