http://kunr-assets.trinityannex.com/audios/1059_Public_Defender_Final.mp3
After serving as a Nevada chief deputy public defender since 2008, Karin Kreizenbeck has been promoted by Governor Brian Sandoval to the state's top public defender post. Kreizenbeck served for a decade as a trial deputy in the state public defender's office. She's also a member of specialty court teams that focus on drug and alcohol dependence, along with mental health issues. She's an advocate for those programs and says many clients wouldn't need the services of a public defender if they didn't have those issues to begin with. "Unfortunately, those issues tend to manifest in criminal charges, whether it's somebody who needs a fix, so they steal a car stereo to pawn it or whether it's someone who just needs medication or has a chemical imbalance in their brain that they either self-medicate with drugs to fix it or they act out in some way that lands them in the criminal system." Kreizenbeck says the biggest challenge her office faces is working with clients, especially families and juveniles with delinquent offenses, to fix the underlying problems that lead them into the criminal justice system.