Fewer Connecticut residents would be entitled to public defenders under a budget proposal by Gov. Ned Lamont.
Lamont’s proposed two-year budget would lower the income threshold to be considered “indigent” from 250% of the federal poverty line, an income level just under $38,000, to 200%, a little over $30,000.
According to NPR, public defenders represent as many as 80% of people charged with crimes in the U.S. The guarantee to public defense for the indigent stems from the Constitution and a 1960s Supreme Court ruling, Gideon v. Wainwright. States set their own income limits to determine indigency.
“The rationale was, again, to save money,” said Jeffrey Beckham, the governor’s Office of Policy and Management secretary, appearing before the Connecticut General Assembly Appropriations Committee on Feb. 10.
The budget proposal purports that the change would save the state more than $6.3 million annually.
The threshold was just recently changed from 200% of the federal poverty line to 250% via legislation approved in 2023 that took effect on Jan. 1 of this year.
Beckham said that increased threshold had made Connecticut an outlier nationally.
“I think only New York is at 250% [of the federal poverty line],” Beckham told the committee. “Lots of other states are significantly below that. 200[%] is a pretty high level compared to the other states.”
In a presentation before the Appropriations Committee on Feb. 11, leaders from the state Division of Public Defender Services said they were requesting the funding be preserved. The agency supported the 2023 law increasing the threshold.
“Having it at 200%, we were not even able to be appointed in cases where people were receiving the minimum wage,” said Deborah Del Prete Sullivan, director of legal counsel. “At 250% right now, we're able to accommodate those people and have representation for them.”
“At 200%, you cannot make more than $30,120,” Sullivan said. “Our guidelines today at 250% are $37,650… These are not people who are making a lot of money at all.”
Division of Public Defender Services leaders told lawmakers the office had hired 21 new staffers to be able to meet the demands of the new threshold, and that layoffs would be possible if funding were to be cut.
Advocates weigh in
In a statement, the American Civil Liberties Union Connecticut chapter opposed the proposal.
“The ACLU of Connecticut believes that every person deserves a lawyer. Systemic inequities in our criminal legal system persist, and public defenders should be available to people who need them,” a spokesperson said. “The reality for most families at or near the proposed cut off income level is that hiring an attorney that’s not a public defender could be prohibitively expensive.”
The organization pointed to the disproportionate number of people of color who are touched by the justice system.
“The governor and legislature cannot and should not balance the budget on the backs of Black and brown people, like they have been doing for more than 200 years,” the ACLU statement concluded.
April Frazier Camara is president and CEO of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, a group that advocates for the right to counsel for people who can’t afford legal representation. She told Connecticut Public she would “warn against” Connecticut lowering its indigency threshold.
“While the governor may be focused on cost savings, you should really think about in what other ways could this change actually cost more money to other parts of the system?” Frazier Camara said. “I would definitely point to the increased cost around incarceration when people cannot have an attorney to advocate for them.”
“Another really major issue is around procedural rights, and whether or not cases can be overturned on appeal because certain legal guidelines were not followed when a person does not have access to representation,” Frazier Camara said. “So the cost savings, I'm not sure it will be realized, because you may create more issues within the system that you have to pay for in other ways.”
Frazier Camara said Connecticut lowering the threshold for indigency would put the state at odds with a national trend in the other direction, of states putting more resources into public defense. She said a reduction in the income threshold would lead to economic hardship not just for individuals in need of counsel, but also members of their social networks who may be asked to contribute resources to be put toward legal defense.
“It's not just the impact on that individual person, but it's also the impact on their extended family and communities,” Frazier Camara said. “And during these very challenging financial times right now, to put any additional pressure on communities that are already under-resourced and overpoliced just will not result in a just outcome.”
