More than 60 Pennsylvania counties do not have enough public defenders for their caseloads, forcing some, including in Erie County, to each handle more than 400 cases a year.
A report by Quattrone Center at the University of Pennsylvania said the state needs more than 1,200 full-time public defenders but has about 850.
Sara Jacobson, executive director of the Public Defender Association of Pennsylvania, said the state was one of only two providing no funding for public defense but $7.5 million was allocated in the last two state budgets. Jacobson acknowledged it has helped, although spread across 67 counties, it is not enough to make real change in places like Erie County…