Public defense is the system set up so that poor people who are accused of a crime can have competent legal counsel at their trial. This is a basic American right, and it is one that is too often overlooked or underappreciated. Here is how public defense systems work.
Indigent defendants are entitled to competent legal counsel. How states provide indigent defendants with counsel varies. There are three systems used to provide indigent defendants with legal counsel, and which system is used varies from place to place.
Many districts use the Assigned Counsel system. In the assigned counsel system, defense attorneys are privately practicing attorneys who are appointed to defend indigent persons by the court. The attorney is compensated by the district that has jurisdiction over the case.
One of the major strengths of the assigned counsel system is that the attorneys who are assigned indigent persons are privately practicing lawyers, and so they are able to gain better rapport with clients because they are not perceived as being employees of the system. There are problems with assigned counsel, though; for example, assigned counsel often have political incentives to please judges, and because they are not compensated as much for indigent defendants as they would be for private defendants, they have little financial incentive to spend time on indigent cases.
Another system commonly used to provide defense lawyers for indigent defendants is the
Contract Counsel system. Contract counselors are private practice attorneys who are contracted to provide services for all indigent defendants within a county, for a specific length of time and a specific amount of money.
The contract counsel system can be a boon to local indigent defense services. Often, contract counselors are used in conjunction with local indigent defense systems to handle complex cases, cases with a conflict of interest or overflow cases from the local public defender’s office. But the financial incentives for contract counselors do not always add up, and some fear that contract counselors may cut corners to save costs. Other problems with contract counsel can occur when districts provide contracts to the lowest bidder, not giving too much thought to competence or experience of the counselors provided.
Finally, there is the Public Defender system. Public defenders are full-time attorneys hired by the state to represent indigent defendants. Public defender systems are often viewed as the best available option, because public defense attorneys are specialists in criminal law who are salaried by the state, which removes any incentive not to work on indigent cases. However, public defenders do have a unique set of problems. First, it can be difficult for public defenders to gain the trust of indigents because they are perceived as working for the system. Also, public defenders are often underpaid and overburdened with cases, which places a large amount of stress on them. This combination of factors can lead to high turnover rates in PD offices.
In summary: public defense varies from place to place, but it's a good thing we've got it!
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