Public defender wants alternatives to juvenile detention
Dawn Deaner, a 12-year veteran of the office, was appointed by Metro Council Tuesday night to lead the office until 2010. She'll be completing the term of Ross Alderman, who was killed last month in a motorcycle accident.
"I can't say enough about how proud I am to be a part of this office," Deaner said. "And how lucky Nashville is to have had the great public defenders we have had."
Deaner sat down with The Tennessean last week and talked about her respect for the history of the public defender's office and her vision for the future.
Ross Alderman was well respected in your office and in the community. Tell me about some of the qualities he possessed that you admired in him.
He cared deeply about our clients. He was doing this job because he cared, and saw humanity in each client we dealt with. Whether they were a homeless person charged with panhandling, or somebody who had committed a very serious offense, he saw their humanity. I think that's one of the most admirable qualities about him.
He was patient, with all of us. He took the time to listen to all of our gripes, rantings and insecurities, any problems that we had whether they be legal or personal, and didn't look down on any of them. … He would cut through all the emotions of it and give me a clear answer on where I needed to go from there.
What is your philosophy on the role of the public defender in the community?
First and foremost, the role of the public defender is to be an advocate for the community, to provide quality legal defense representation to the poor.
I think in the larger community of the city of Nashville, the public defender can play a role in helping citizens to understand the importance of the criminal justice system, and the importance of the public defender's office to a fair system.
I also think the public defender is somebody who can try to create a positive impact in the communities that we primarily serve. … I heard somebody say there's been plenty of blue-ribbon panels everywhere to try to resolve the issues of the rise in juvenile violent crime, recidivism rates, and lots of issues like that, that predominantly come out in the justice system.
The public defender can't find all the answers to that, but I think the public defender can play a role in finding the answers, by working with the communities those crimes impact. …
I think the public defender has a very important role to play in trying to be creative, finding new ways in the criminal justice system to address root causes of crime, rather than watching as our clients get sent off to jail or prison. One really important thing the public defender can do is look for alternate treatment programs, solutions to the problems that cause crime rather than simply represent people as they go to jail or prison.
What policies or programs that Ross Alderman started do you hope to continue?
The mental health court program (spearheaded by Alderman) I think is important. I think it's important that program continues and it would be great to be able to expand it.
Federal and state money available to the mentally ill in our community is dwindling and dwindling away. It's not only the mentally ill, but the mentally retarded as well. The dollars available are smaller every year.
A large part of the reason we see individuals dealing with those issues is that our criminal justice system is not where they belong. … They should be in treatment, getting the type of special services they need and they wouldn't be in the criminal justice system.
Continuing with the Drug Court programs and trying to find creative solutions for individuals addicted to drugs — and as a result of that are involved in criminal activity — is very important as well. I think most of us in the criminal justice system would say that an overwhelming majority of the offenses we deal with are motivated by drugs in some way.
I think also what needs to be addressed, what I would like to look into, is the issue of juvenile crime and how we can better deal with that. Simply transferring juveniles who commit serious offenses to criminal court for treatment as adults is not, in my opinion, the right solution.
I think I'm interested in seeing if there's some alternatives, some programs that we can develop in our juvenile court system to try to address some of the issues that are more and more affecting juveniles.
What challenges are the public defenders in your office facing today?
Obviously, I'm still learning about those challenges, having only been in this position for my third day now. But the challenges oftentimes here are retaining attorneys, qualified and high-caliber attorneys. The law school debt for most students coming out of law school is enormous. … While their hearts may want to come to the public defender's office, their bills are telling them
they need to go somewhere else.
We have a lot of lawyers here that work second jobs. I know in the district attorney's office as well, a lot of lawyers work part-time second jobs to try to make ends meet.
It's a challenge, retaining lawyers after they've been here a while so you then develop a second tier of qualified, experienced attorneys to handle some of the more serious cases we have. …
In the last budget year, the council and the mayor were gentle to this office, and we didn't see large reductions. We're able for the most part to continue providing the same level of services that we have in the past. … In criminal courts, an average (caseload) is between 25 and 35 indicted cases. On top of that, they usually have 20-40 bound-over clients, who have been through General Sessions Court and are bound over to the grand jury.
How do you think the African-American community in Nashville perceives your office, and what do you plan to do to address those perceptions?
That's a really hard question to answer. I think that members of the African-American community who have had a reason to deal with our office, for the most part, have a positive perception of the office because we do provide high-quality representation here at the office. However … there are clearly some individuals in the community at that forum (last Monday at Jefferson Street Missionary Baptist Church) who expressed a sense that the African-American community here in Nashville perceives that they are not getting high-quality criminal defense representation from our office. I think that's a misperception.
I think what I have to do in the coming months and years ahead is to work harder to try to reach out to members of the African-American community who perhaps don't know firsthand a lot about our office.
One idea was utilizing our Web site more than we have in the past, keeping it more current, and perhaps publicizing a little better through our Web site. I'm also thinking about monthly memos to leaders in the African-American community about some of the successes of this office. … We can be out there more talking about our good news rather than just being dictated by the bad news, our perception being dictated by that.
You said the night you were appointed that you were proud to move from a public defender to THE public defender, because you can shape how the criminal justice system treats your clients. What does that mean to you, and what do you hope to accomplish in this more public role?
I think, what I meant by that is that as the public defender, you are a participant in policymaking decisions, within the larger criminal justice system. For instance, if there's going to be a meeting about whether a particular docket should exist or not, the public defender has the opportunity to offer input into what would be the best outcome for our clientele. …
As an assistant public defender, I viewed my role as helping whatever client I was serving at that moment, and trying to be the best advocate for that client. As the public defender, part of my job would be to advocate for all our clients across the board, and potentially be able to do things that will positively impact what happens to them within the criminal justice system, rather than just on a case-by-case basis.
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