A spike in arrests in San Francisco has forced the public defender’s office to announce it won’t take on any new cases one to two days a week to give attorneys time they need to focus on existing caseloads.
“Right now we’re in a position where we just can’t take any more cases,” Public Defender Mano Raju said at a recent hearing. “If we keep on taking cases, we’re not going to be able to provide the representation that our clients deserve, and it’s going to have a negative impact on the just outcome in the case.”
Raju said he has been sounding the alarm for a while now, but cases have continued to climb.
The same frustration was aired on the other side, with District Attorney Brooke Jenkins saying her office is also dealing with heavy caseloads, making it impossible for her employees to give current cases the attention they deserve.
Adding to the issue is that active cases are also taking longer to resolve, something that ballooned after the pandemic caused the courts to shut down. Another factor is technology, such as cameras at intersections and those placed around the city, that lawyers on both sides need access to and time to go through.
The rise in cases is also the result of San Francisco police officers going after low-level lawbreakers. The numbers started to grow after former Mayor London Breed launched the Drug Market Agency Coordination Center in 2023, which focused on open-air drug dens. Arrests for retail theft and disorderly conduct have also grown this year.
There has been a 920% increase in misdemeanor narcotics cases since 2022, when Jenkins first took office, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Misdemeanor petty theft cases have grown 152%, while misdemeanor DUI cases have increased 111%, and misdemeanor assault and battery cases have jumped 60%. The only categories of crime brought to the district attorney’s office that have fallen are felony burglary, felony motor vehicle theft, and felony narcotics, which decreased by 13%, 10%, and 2%, respectively.
The city has also been cracking down on homeless encampments, arrests that were almost unheard of even five years ago.
“There has been a huge spike in quality of life cases,” Raju told ABC7 News, adding that the prosecutor’s office has a budget of $40 million more than his office and that the police budget is 14 times more than his office. Raju said he is asking for more attorneys, paralegals, social workers, and investigators. That might be a tough ask at a time when Mayor Daniel Lurie has advised all city departments to cut 15% of their budgets.
“The public defenders’ office is essential for the poor working class to have legal representation, and so when they don’t have legal representation, that means there can be unfair convictions,” said Julia Arroyo, the state executive director for Young Women’s Freedom Center.
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Jenkins has said that low-level crimes are among the “most pressing” issues and told the Washington Examiner during a City Hall press conference earlier this month that her office would continue to go after all lawbreakers.
The mayor’s budget will be released on June 1.
