The trope is that public defenders should be and are funded equivalent to prosecutors’ offices. It’s less untrue in IL than in, say, Louisiana, but it’s still untrue.
Prosecutors suffer a self-serving delusion: they’re born on third base thinking they hit a triple.
Does anyone except crazy prosecutor believe public defenders are funded to any sort of suitable level?
Literally nobody thinks that. This whole thread is evidence that this is well known disparity, and one which many people feel strongly about but are unable to correct. I’d argue it’s not correctable: we can’t as a society with lots of crime devote as much money to thwarting prosecutions as we do on apprehension, detention, prosecution etc… The focus should be on crime prevention which can include better education, less restrictive laws, improved policing and crime research.