Throughout Southern California the latest economic hardships have begun to affect crime prevention. Los Angeles criminal defense attorneys have seen a drop in police budgets, crime prevention budgets, gang prevention budgets and so on. Belt-tightening has already begun in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, which have both been particularly hard hit by the recession.The millions of dollars in budget cuts throughout California, such programs as child abuse prevention are being cut. The Los Angeles Times reports that Orange County alone is cutting $5.2 million from the sheriff and coroner's budget and $4.3 million from the public defender's budget. That means that while there may be less law enforcement officers to arrest people, once arrested there will be a much lower level of criminal defense provided by the county.Now, more than ever, it's imperative to find adequate Los Angeles criminal defense attorneys throughout Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Gabriel and other counties in Southern California. If you believe that criminal charges are about to be filed against you, it is always to your benefit to speak with a reputable criminal defense attorney. Even if criminal charges never get filed by the District Attorney, you will benefit immensely from the advice and guidance of a skilled defense lawyer. Kestenbaum, Eisner & Gorin, LLP is a Southern California criminal defense law firm that is dedicated to providing reliable legal representation for clients located throughout Los Angeles and surrounding counties. Our reputable lawyers have over 50 years courtroom experience, and specialize in all criminal and DUI matters. Martindale-Hubbell, a national lawyers' review company, has recognized year after year that we are a "Preeminent Law Firm," designating it to be a Top 5% U.S. Law Firm. When our clients decide to retain our services, they can be confident that they have hired a knowledgeable, distinguished, and tenacious legal team that will place every effort into helping them avoid a criminal conviction and keep them out of custody. Tagged as: california criminal laws

Comments:

Tatiana Vardanyan on November 30, 2008 at 8:33 p.m. wrote: Our current economic crisis has fostered an array of crimes such as grand theft, petty theft, and white collar crimes such as credit card fraud. When gas prices were soaring high, gas theft became prevalent. LAKELAND, Fla. - A 70-year-old man has been charged with grand theft after police watched him siphon off more than 900 gallons of gasoline from underground storage tanks at two gas stations, the Polk County authorities said. This is ridiculous and as Aida stated above, people will resort to such behavior as an alternative to their current situation. I think that we all need to remain positive and perhaps maintaining funding for crime prevention by opening our options and asking local businesses for sponsorship or volunteers to donate their time for a brighter future. Aida Ter-Khachatryan on November 26, 2008 at 4:25 p.m. wrote: Budget cuts are going to affect us in many ways than we think. We need police officers to help protect us. This country is not going to feel safe with police officers and crime rates will start to rise even higher than they are right now. Budget cuts on public defense attornies means that people are not going to have any form of defense in court and will not be able of afford expensive private defense attornies. The people getting affected by these budget cuts are going to start looking for other alternatives to make money and therefore less and less people are going to want to be police officers and defense attornies. Its not fair to them and it is not fair to us. Ericka Carlos on November 21, 2008 at 7:44 p.m. wrote: Budget cuts affect nearly all public services. As of recent, the CSU system will have to accept a significantly less amount of qualified students, which is even more unfortunate than cuts in the public defender's budget. Students who are ready to transfer from community colleges may face rejection due to the financial crisis and be left in the dark in term of their education. As is is clear to see, cuts in any part of the system hurt. Nevertheless, cuts in the budget are likely to slow down the whole trial process, leaving public defenders with a higher caseload than the present. It is not as if defendents are being completely deprived of their rights, in that they will still have access to an attorney, but a 'speedy trial' is less probable due to the recession. Prospective public defenders may reconsider the practice due to the disarray that the system is currently in. Fresh law graduates with high debt are likely to be more attracted to the private sector due to this as well. At the same time, I would imagine that it would also be easier to secure a position with the public defender's office, since there are probably less people seeking them, and perhaps more wanting 'out.' M Phung Tu on November 21, 2008 at 6:36 p.m. wrote: The budget cut in public defense and prevention is very unfortunate. This cut is more unfortunate for those who cannot afford a decent defense attorney and afford the expensive investigation and hire witnesses, as our reading suggested. But I think the solution lies deeper than taking funding from one criminal department and give to another. The solution is not putting more officers on the street or hiring more public defenders. The solution lies in people having jobs and getting paid enough to suffice the gas prices, afford an education, pay the mortgage, etc. I'm not insinuating that budget cuts in the prevention programs are okay. There are many flaws to our system, yes, and we should fix it. But other fundings are cut too, like education. Crime prevention is more than the police department, the public defenders, and the coroner Erik R. Martin on November 21, 2008 at 2:29 a.m. wrote: It is quite unfortunate that in this society it is far more accesible to find a criminal defense lawyer, than to find a reliable support system in the community. It makes no sense that the state is cutting back on resources deeply needed by society. The inner-city seems to be the most affected by these decisions. Firstly, the inner-city sees little resources even without cutbacks and now that cutbacks are official there are few alternatives to those in need. Considering this situation, it would be interesting to see how defense attorneys use the pretext of lack of resources to defend thir client. Attorneys can make a case that individuals were deprived of help from the state, and this in turn led to their decision to commit a crime. The defense can clearly use the deprivation of programs to help gain sympathy and logic towards its client. Lillian Smith Comm 174 on November 20, 2008 at 1:43 p.m. wrote: I agree that it's unfortunate that $4.3 million is being cut from the public defender Constance Johnson on November 19, 2008 at 12:43 a.m. wrote: This blog ties into the creed of the American tradition of how wealth can influence the quest for justice in the American trial system. Like discussed in class, and mentioned in the course readings, wealth makes all the difference when assessing the quality of the discovery process, expert witnesses, the use of jury selection companies, and the access to skilled lawyers. All of these components are essential in acquiring a fair trial. In this particular situation, it is unfortunate that with the recent recession there has been a rise of petty crimes, which suggests to me that these criminals will not be able to afford the defense lawyers that can get them the best deal and will be susceptible to the severest punishment. The article mentions that as a result of the economic hardships, crime prevention programs have been eliminated, but what I do not understand is how are these prevention programs actually prevent people from committing crime, especially during times of a rough economy. As Pizzi suggests, in Trials Without Truth, our trial system is broken. The fact that expert witnesses, the long and expensive discovery process, and the burden of investigation is mainly up to the defense, suggests that this aspect of our trial system is broken and is not in favor of the poor, or non-wealthy citizens. Cho Yim on November 18, 2008 at 12:22 p.m. wrote: It is really unfortunate that because of the recession, budget cuts are being made on public defense as well as crime prevention. Defendants who cannot afford lawyers need to be protected and lowering public defense budget will not help. It is important for them to seek the guidance of skilled defense lawyers especially at this time to make sure they are not be prosecuted for charges that should not apply.