Hennepin County expected to offer PDs retirement incentives

Aug 2nd, 2010 by Barbara L. Jones

The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners is expected to approve an early-retirement package for public defenders, the Minneapolis Star Tribune has reported. The goal of the program is to reduce the staff at the already over-worked office by offering a cash payment of $400 for every year of service to employees with at least eight years experience who retire or resign this fall. The state has instituted a hiring freeze so the retirees can’t be replaced, but the office needs to cut its budget. I am already hearing more talk about long waits in court because public defenders just don’t show up, and this will only make the problem worse.

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3 Responses to “Hennepin County expected to offer PDs retirement incentives”

beetlejuice says:

August 2, 2010 at 12:31 pm

The ship is sinking.
Anonygusted says:

August 2, 2010 at 1:45 pm

Billions of dollars in stimulus funds to fix our roads and build commuter train lines, but nothing to fix our justice system?

Banks are able to borrow from the discount window at virtually no cost, but our states are forced to whittle down the constitutional right to a PD?

The protections of a constitution are meaningless if they can be subverted by a process as political as the state budget. Do we have to amend our constitutions to underscore this point?

Someone should compare the burden shouldered in cuts to the judiciary against those asked of the legislative and executive branch.
umn law 2009 says:

August 5, 2010 at 10:58 am

The U.S. is finished.