Every single public defender. Every single day.

Bail arguments, motions, oral arguments, hearings. Judges don’t know, follow, or care about the law. Prosecutors are willing to take advantage of it. And mandatory minimums, withheld evidence, & pretrial detention coerces people to plead before trial. When theres a jury. A shot.
But defenders still fight. And still win. Most times wins aren’t “Justice.” It’s power of repetition of argument in front of same judges. Introducing those in power to the people they oppress. Not just a RAP sheet or words on a page. Defenders make it harder to be brutal & cruel.
I worked as a public defender at an office as well resourced as any in the country. Social workers, team of investigators, a reentry team, support staff, specialist attorneys in immigration, housing, education, family. Relatively low caseloads (80-100). And yet still injustice.
Most think that balancing the scales of justice means more funding for defenders. Thats part of it. Enough a attorneys to actually be at bail hearings. Wrap around services to be able to help people trapped in the system end up better off in their communities. Lower caseloads.
But funding for defense in isolation isn’t enough. For one, large swaths of country don’t even have public defender offices. Rely on “assigned counsel systems” of private attorneys. Their judge friends give them cases. They so little if any work. End up w/ “results” like this: https://t.co/72FWwNj5tQ
Another issue is independence. Public defender offices are often beholden by law to the very governmental bodies that oppress the people they serve. In PA last year, this defender was fired simply for arguing the county’s bail practices were unjust.
Even the most well funded & independent defenders are crushed by the web of laws & practices designed to oppress. Mandatory minimums & other harsh sentencing laws, pretrial human caging, laws allowing prosecutors to withhold evidence undermine the promise of public defense.
Defenders have perspective from seeing everyday how the system is set up to ensure Justice fails. So while fighting for resources & independence & doing everything possible in & out of court, defenders must join w/ the people & communities they serve to fight to end this system.
Proud to be working together with an extraordinary group of advocates & activists & artists & defenders & communities across the country right now to break down barriers of distrust between defender & community, strengthen coalitions, & build new capacity for strategic advocacy.

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the whole point of Dunks was you could go cop them at VIM whenever you wanted for $65. this shit is like having to enter a raffle to buy milk.


like seriously why not make a ton more of them if they're gonna be so sought-after? they land at outlets? so? nike still makes money off that.

the only reason to keep making them so limited is that they KNOW all that matters is the profit on the flip and if they were readily available FEWER people would want them, not more

the whole system is super broken, but it's just gonna go the way it goes, because at this point it all caters to the secondary market. the only reason Nike can sell Jordan 1s for $200 is because the people buying them can flip them for $500

adjusted for inflation, a $65 AJ1 in 1985 is like $160—and modern-day AJ1s are made from cheaper materials in factories staffed by cheaper workers. they don't HAVE to be $200 retail. but the secondary market nuked the whole concept of what sneakers are "worth"

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