Co-defendant plea deals and uneven outcomes

Hunter and Danielle discuss how plea bargains and counsel quality produce wildly different sentences for co-defendants.

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Episode notes

Today, Hunter was joined by Danielle Harris, Managing Attorney of the Freedom Project at the San Francisco Public Defender Office. Thanks to mass incarceration policies like mandatory minimums and three strikes laws, thousands of people in California languish away serving brutally harsh sentences. Recognizing the cruelty, the state passed a series of laws aimed at giving people a pathway to early release, and for years, Danielle and her team at the Freedom Project have helped people get early release. Sadly, their grant funding is at an end, and this episode is a reminder that if we are serious about reducing the harms of mass incarceration, we must be willing to fund the mechanisms that undo it.

Guest:

Danielle Harris, Managing Attorney for the Freedom Project, San Francisco Public Defender

Resources:

Read about the stories in today's episode

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/21/magazine/juvenile-justice-california.html

https://wearedefender.com/forty-four-years & https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/SF-public-defender-unit-helps-Oakland-man-go-free-15301831.php

Learn More about the Freedom Project

https://missionlocal.org/2024/05/public-defender-resentencing-program/

Contact the SF Public Defender

ttps://sfpublicdefender.org/

https://www.facebook.com/sfpublicdefender

https://x.com/sfdefender