A new report from the Virginia General Assembly’s nonpartisan auditor found the state’s support for indigent criminal defendants is failing to meet the needs of those it serves.

The main takeaways from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, or JLARC, report suggest the state’s system to support criminal defendants who can’t afford an attorney is underfunded and understaffed.

This story was reported and written by Radio IQ

Virginia has 28 public defenders' offices which serve mainly urban centers, and it relies on court appointed counsel in the rest of the courts in the state. But public defenders' offices are only staffed enough to handle about 72% of their workload, and even if they were fully staffed, it would only cover about 87 percent of the workload.

Since 2020, court appointed defense programs have seen a nearly 50% drop in lawyers willing to do the work. Low pay was among the top complaints.

Maria Jankowski is the Executive Director of Virginia’s Indigent Defense Commission. She warned legislators Monday afternoon about the lack of support for drug and mental health services, and that the state’s legal system is often being used to lock up people for what she called nuisance crimes.

“We are dealing with stuff that shouldn’t be there for a variety of reasons, we have to look at the inflow of what’s coming in,” Jankowski said.

Virginia Beach Delegate Barry Knight said millions of dollars were allocated for such diversion services late this summer and was hopeful to see an impact from them soon.

“I think we recognize what you say and that we’re moving in the right direction," Knight said.

Other suggestions from JLARC included increased funding for both court appointed counsel and public defenders as well as expanding support staff where possible.

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