23-05-2025
San Francisco Public Defender's Office scaling back from flood of caseloads
The San Francisco Public Defender says his office has stopped taking cases once a week because they're overloaded.
San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju says he's concerned with a rising number of cases and what that means for his clients, and an overworked staff.
"We're constitutionally obligated to provide an ethical and competent defense to anyone who is charged with a crime in San Francisco," said Raju.
Data presented by the San Francisco District Attorney's Office during a recent Board of Supervisors meeting shows San Francisco has the highest caseloads compared to surrounding counties.
There's been a 31% increase in filings over the last 3 years.
"It gets to a certain point where the cases are too many to provide the level of representation that the Constitution demands. It's imperative on us to reduce our caseload," said Raju.
That's why Raju's office has stopped taking any new cases one day a week.
The Public Defender and District Attorney's office both point to an increase in arrests by San Francisco police as the reason behind the overwhelming number of cases.
Jenkins says the uptick in arrests is the result of "more widespread enforcement of quality of life crimes" including public drug use, encampments and retail theft.
"When you give a fentanyl dealer a misdemeanor that's effectively decriminalizing it. When you refuse to prosecute any quality of life crime, we've seen that before, and we know where that got us," said Jenkins at the meeting.
Raju believes there's a better way to improve public safety, through diversion programs, rather than ramping up arrests and prosecutions, especially for 'quality of life' crimes.
"If they get arrested, they're coming back out again, and it's really important that we connect people so they can put themselves in a position where they can move to a better place in life by connecting them with the appropriate services," said Raju.
Both offices say cases are also taking longer to resolve.
Part of the reason is that more cameras across the city and police technology have resulted in more evidence for attorneys to review.
The public defender's move to stop taking new cases one day a week comes as the mayor seeks to cut 15% from all city department budgets.
Both offices are facing budget cuts as Mayor Daniel Lurie tries to close an $820 million budget gap by June.
Jenkins has pushed back on Lurie's bid to cut more than $5.4 million from her office, most recently at the Board of Supervisors meeting.
