Michael Gagliardi, an assistant public defender in Florida’s 2nd Judicial Circuit, encounters a prosecutor in court.
to three — to identify people who commit minor crimes because of untreated mental illness. One-third of the people held in jail are on psychotropic drugs. “They don’t necessarily need to be in jail. They need to be somewhere where they have food to eat and somebody making sure they take their meds,” Daniels said. It might be easy to mistake these initiatives as soft on crime, but Daniels won’t have it. “When people get the services they need, they don’t commit crimes so much,” she said. “If you just put them in jail for a little while and let them out without any services provided, they’re going to keep doing the same things. If you make an effort to give them treatment for the thing that brought them there, you’re interrupting the cycle of crime. You’re helping society and you’re helping the criminal justice system.” State Attorney Jack Campbell, the 2nd Circuit’s chief prosecuting officer, is convinced the holistic approach reduces recidivism. “I think it’s great. We look at them as complete human beings, and not just as a summary of the charges or the incident,” he said.
“Some of the best lawyers I’ve ever worked with are public defenders. I’ve seen outstanding results — and, believe me, I’m the one fighting against them. Often, they’re getting as good if not better representation from a public defender than they would from a private attorney.” — Jack Campbell, 2nd Circuit State Attorney “If you’re putting the interests of your clients first, you need to recognize that we need to make them not get in trouble again — to make sure this is the only time they come to our office,” Campbell said. “Whether that’s addressing a substance abuse issue, poverty or employment, I think we’re all on the same page.” Initially, even some defense attorneys were skeptical about drug court, and the approach sometimes runs contrary to a defender’s instincts. What if a client desperately needs drug treatment, but the case deserves to be thrown
out because of procedural error? What truly represents the client’s best interests? “There’s a lot of common ground between social services provision and legal representation. If there’s a way to help that person get out of the cycle of crime, great. But if it just comes down to legal representation, that always supersedes other things,” Daniels said. “The social worker’s disappointed because that person didn’t end up in a treatment program. The lawyer’s excited because their motion to suppress was granted and the case was dismissed.” The pursuit of justice “The Florida Bar tells us that if you’re defending someone in a criminal case, they have the right to zealous representation — that we are to argue every arguable point within the bounds of law,” he said. “For public prosecutors, their duty is to seek justice. Not convict people. Not put people in prison. Not win every case. Seek justice.” If prosecutors don’t think they have a case, Thomas said, (Continued on page 156) TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM
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