Skip to main content

20130213-144517-PA

Attention

This website is under construction. Please send questions or comments to bjanttac@usdoj.gov.

Questions?

Submitted by Joselle Shea on

As the Luzerne County "kids for cash" scandal demonstrated, Pennsylvania's county funded indigent defense delivery system is failing to meet the needs of their communites and the requirements of 21st century effective legal assistance of counsel. Pennsylvania remains the ONLY STATE that provides NO general fund appropriations to support U.S. Supreme Court mandated legal representation services for adults and children facing loss of liberty. Pennsylvania fails to meet the American Bar Association's Ten Principles of a Public Defense Delivery System (2002), which results in delays for victims's case finality, costs to taxpayers, and over incarceration of possibly innocent adults and children.

TTA Short Name
American Council of Chief Public Defenders Meeting Attendance Support
Status of Deliverable
Canceled
Status Changed
Type of Agency
Other
Please describe the "Other" type of agency
Philadelphia County non-profit public defender agency in state trial and appellate court system and the federal community public defender office for the federal Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Also the County civil and criminal mental health advocate and the Philadelphia Child Advocate office.
TTA Title
American Council of Chief Public Defenders Meeting Attendance Support
TTA Point of Contact
Christina Horst
TTAR Source
NTTAC TTAs
Please describe the "Other" type of target audience

County funded chief public defenders who lead public defender offices and run county agencies througout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Deliverable Markup for Questions

Please check the box next to the following questions if the answer is 'yes'.

Is this TTA in support of implementing or maintaining an evidence-based or promising practice?
No
Is this TTA in response to emerging public safety needs?
No
Target Audience
Other
County
Philadelphia County
TTA Program Area
Adjudication/Courts
TTA Source
Field-Initiated
TTA Estimated Costs
$2,501 - $5,000
Type of Technical Assistance Requested
Training Development
Recipient Agency Scope
No
Primary Recipient Agency Name
Defender Association of Philadelphia
Primary Recipient Contact Name
Ellen Greenlee
Primary Recipient Email Address
EGreenlee@Philadefender.org
Event Date Markup

Please enter the applicable Event Date if there is an Event associated with this TTA.
When entering an Event Date, the Time is also required.

Display event on public TTA Catalog
No
Demographics Markup

If the TTA is targeted to a particular audience or location, please complete the questions below.

Prior Assistance from BJA NTTAC
No
Milestones Markup

Milestones are an element, activity, work product, or key task associated with completing the TTA (e.g. kick-off meeting, collect data from stake holders, deliver initial data analysis).

Please complete the fields below, if applicable, to create a milestone for this TTA.

Performance Metrics Markup

Please respond to the Performance Metrics below.  The Performance Metrics questions are based on the TTA Type indicated in the General Information section of the TTA.

Performance Metrics
How do you anticipate that the requested assistance will address the problems?
By supporting chief public defender leadership training and education through their attendance at the Summer 2013 Philadelphia meeting of the American Council of Chief Public Defenders we intend to increase county chief defender management and leadership skills and awareness of issues that must be addressed as critical stakeholders in the criminal and delinquency justice systems.
What type of services does your organization offer?
Adjudication
Please describe what types of "Advocacy" you provide
In addition to legal advocacy in criminal and delinquency trial and appellate courts, the Association is also the Child Advocate (dependency/abuse/neglect) and the Mental Health Advocate (civil/criminal commitments) in Philadelphia. We also represent contempt of court in domestic violence court cases, and we actively participate in a number of treatment court programs. All our units have social workers who not only work to assist our indigent clients (and their families) who have many housing, mental health, addiction, anger management, and other life impacting issues. Our Probation/Parole Unit and our Prison Unit work closely with jails and prisons to identify and locate a broad range of community based treatment, school, housing, and other needs. We actively work throughout the Philadelphia community with many stakeholders to address the issues and needs presented by a diverse, multi-cultural community that faces many challenges. We see our role as "problem solvers" for our community and our advocacy extends beyond the courtroom. We are leaders in Pennsylvania in addressing policy issues in the legislature and the courts that impact indigent defense systems throughout the Commonwealth. We are also actively supporting much needed systemic indigent defense legal representation in Pennsylvania through our engagement with many stakeholders.
What program areas are to be addressed?
Adjudication
Administration/Management
Courts
Death Investigation
Domestic Violence
Ethics/Integrity/Diversity
Juvenile-Delinquency Prevention/Risk and Protective Factors
Legal Issues
Training Development
Cover Letter Instructions

Please submit a signed letter of support from your agency’s executive or other senior staff member. The letter can be emailed to or uploaded with this request. The letter should be submitted on official letterhead and include the following information:

  1. General information regarding the request for TTA services, i.e., the who, what, where, when, and why.
  2. The organizational and/or community needs specific to the request for TTA services.
  3. The benefits or anticipated outcomes from the receipt of TTA services.

By submitting this application to BJA NTTAC, I understand that upon approval of this application for TTA, the requestor agrees to keep BJA NTTAC informed of any circumstances that may impact the delivery of the TTA, including changes in the date of the event, event cancellation, or difficulties communicating with the assigned TTA provider.

Please call [site:phone] if you need further assistance completing this application.

I Agree
On
Additional Info

Spoke with Ellen Greenlee on 2/13/13 to clarify that she was strictly asking for money in her request. She stated that she was asking for money and that the total request would be about $8,000.00. Sent e-mail to Angela who was going to run this by Becky and see if it would be approved or denied. 2.22.13 Sent e-mail to Angela asking if she had response yet from Becky. Angela responded that she had not heard anything yet. Asked Angela again on 3.11.13 if she had heard anything from Becky in regard to this TA and she stated she had not heard anything. Received notification from Angela on 4.11.13 that BJA declined to support this TA request. e-mail sent to requester on 4.12.13 notifying her of decision. TA being closed.

Archived
Off
Event Location Geo
POINT (-75.1654706 39.9503448)
Congressional District
PA2