Some states have such a poor public defender system, that problem may actually gain some progress through sheer desperation. In Oregon there is such a shortfall of public defenders that criminal trials are being dropped just because the defendent has a right to trial that isn’t half a decade from starting. I expect the state to simply make it a requirement for every licensed attorney to have to rotate through the PD’s office, just to allow the system to keep moving.
Unlikely. Social workers and crisis managers are trained in de-escalation and, unlike cops, need to be able to de-escalate because they are unarmed. Cops don’t de-escalate even when they are trained to because they carry a lethal weapon on the job and practice putting holes in people.
