Justice at the ballot box: Meeting with Adam Frankel

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — Justice on The Ballot continues to cover the candidates for Palm Beach County Public Defender.

Carey Haughwout has held this position since 2001.

Currently, two men are running to replace her. Both are Democrats.

That means the race won’t be on the November ballot. Voters will decide who will be the next public defender on August 20, the day of the primary, and the winner takes it all.

This is important work in our community.

The Public Defender is responsible for a staff of more than 200 people with a budget of $18 million per year.

Check out his opponent’s interview: Justice on the Ballot: Meet Dan Eisinger

And in Palm Beach County, there are over 50,000 cases a year where someone can’t afford a private attorney, so the county provides them with one.

Adam Frankel wants the job. He has been a well-known Delray Beach city commissioner for the past few years. He has completed his term. This would be a new chapter for Frankel.

It is an office he knows well since he began his legal career there, working as an assistant public defender from 1999 to 2001.

He is now a private attorney and often defends drunk driving suspects.

Frankel was part of Palm Beach County District Attorney Dave Aronberg’s Sober Home Task Force in 2016.

Frankel has the idea of ​​creating a special juvenile mental health court in Palm Beach County for the Public Defenders Office:

California and Texas have such courts.

Frankel said the public defender’s website needs to be overhauled and he would like to incorporate vocational training when there is a community service requirement for resolving a case, such as sweeping floors or picking up trash on the beach;

Frankel said he would like offenders to learn something useful in addition to the public service they are required to perform.

Adam Frankel appeared on Arc Florida on Tuesday, July 16; his full interview can be viewed in the video player.