2010 ACS National Convention

NLADA President and CEO Wallace (pictured) said there are numerous studies that reveal a "crisis" in providing legal services to criminal defendants who cannot afford legal representation and that a concerted federal effort is needed to turn the situation around. The system Wallace said is "broken." The federal government needs to act swiftly by doing more to educate the public on the importance of shoring up indigent defense, to hold states accountable for their constitutional obligations to provide legal services to the poor and to find more resources to support those services.

Wallace's interview is below or it can be downloaded as a podcast here. Video of the entire panel discussion, "The Federal Role In Improving Indigent Criminal Defense," is available here.

Additionally ACS published an Issue Brief earlier this week by Professor Cara H. Drinan, which proposes a legislative action to reforming and bolstering indigent defense. Drinan, an assistant law professor at Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law, says many states are failing their obligation under the Sixth Amendment to provide legal representation to criminal defendants who cannot afford attorneys. Drinan proposes federal legislation that she maintains would achieve several goals, such as confirming the states' obligations to providing effective counsel to indigent criminal defendants and a means for "appropriate parties to" bring legal action against the states for ineffective or no counsel. Drinan's Issue Brief is available here.

The nation's indigent defense system is woefully inadequate and calls out for a strong federal response, writes Professor Cara H. Drinan in an Issue Brief released today by ACS. Drinan's Issue Brief, available here, proposes federal legislation to help overcome a "national crisis in indigent defense services." At the moment, Drinan asserts, many states are far from meeting their obligations under the Constitution's Sixth Amendment.

During the 2010 ACS National Convention, Stephen B. Bright, president and senior counsel for the Southern Center for Human Rights, participated in a panel discussion that focused on increasing a federal role in improving indigent defense. Following the discussion, Bright talked with ACSblog about indigent defense services nationwide, calling the situation extremely lopsided in the favor of prosecutors. He compared the situation to "literally like the New York Yankees," playing a little-league softball team. "In many parts of the country we don't have a system," Bright said. In many states, there are no public defenders offices and instead judges appoint lawyers, often overworked, to represent poor defendants. In those cases, Bright continued, the lawyers loyalty is often to the judges who appoint them and not to defendants.

Bright said greater independence, more structure and resources are needed to turn the situation around. Bright's interview is below. Video of the panel discussion, "The Federal Role in Improving Indigent Criminal Defense," is available here.