Policy & Positions
We are committed to advancing fair and equitable justice through advocacy, education, and public engagement. Below you’ll find official statements and press releases addressing issues important to public defenders and the communities they serve.
FEATURED STATEMENTS:
3/14/25 NAPD Response To Recent Federal Policy Changes
“Recent Executive Orders—in particular those against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and the actions against immigrants—are opposed to the principles upon which NAPD was founded. They are also a direct attack on the communities we all serve. We share your outrage and anguish about the harms that are being done to our clients, communities, and to us.”
3/7/21 Ten Principles For Creating Sustainability In Public Defense
“Public defenders need to start from a strong base of overall wellness to best represent their clients under what are frequently challenging circumstances. Employee wellness is multi-layered, and best practices toward sustainability can be woven into organization operations, policies, procedures, training, supervision, atmosphere, and interpersonal interactions.
The end goal is to increase not only individual resilience, but community resilience of the office, which creates sustainability. When individual well-being is addressed, we can better support the well-being of our colleagues and teams. Only then can we become a community that is adaptable and sustainable and that provides the level of representation our clients deserve.”
2/23/24 NAPD Policy Statement on Workloads
“In light of new research and developments in public defense, NAPD adopts this statement:
Public defense workloads must be reasonable, ensuring that public defense counsel is able to represent each client according to prevailing national professional norms. Public defense leaders should work to develop plans to implement workload limits, guided by the 2023 National Public Defense Workload Study (NPDWS) and these guiding principles:
- The Constitution requires public defenders to have reasonable workloads.
- Workload limits should be based on rigorous research.
- Workload limits should be implemented according to local plans with clear deadlines.
- All defense team members must have reasonable workloads.
- Excessive workloads harm everyone and disproportionately harm people of color.
- To achieve reasonable workloads, the criminal legal system’s demands on public defenders must be reduced.”
Our Impact
