Can a ‘Teach for America’ Model Save Public Defense?

Melissa Simon, left, and Peter Brown, center, Partners for Justice client advocates, lead a training session at the Delaware County Public Defenders Office in Media, Pa.

Before Peter Brown began working in public defense, he was a 22-year-old who could have used defending.

Mr. Brown was living in Florida, working his way through community college when he was arrested for a crime that he hadn’t committed. He had never been in legal trouble before. Now, he was spending the day in jail, where the presumption of his innocence suddenly felt like a myth.

Read the full article in the New York Times.