pd system
and I was complaining about not getting a raise
Apr 9th
David Feige, who authors Indefensible, points to two stories (three actually) highlighting the sad state of public defender systems across the country. The most startling revelation comes from the third story:
Louisiana pays some money for defense of the poor, but most comes from court costs added to some traffic fines.
Traffic fines? Wow.
Virginia’s beleaguered pd system isn’t getting better
Feb 19th
Via CrimLaw comes this report that state legislators have allocated only an additional $3million for the indigent defense system in this year’s budget. Some house delegates introduced three proposals to improve the system this year:
1. Increase by more than 50 percent the pay caps for court-appointed attorneys.
2. Removing the fee caps when the alleged crime carries a penalty of 20 years to life.
3. Fully fund the abysmally low caps currently in place.
For instance, the law limits attorneys fees to $445 when the potential penalty is less than 20 years, but the budget includes money only for a $395 cap.
The Indigent Defense Commission says that enacting all three proposals would cost $30million.
In contrast, in 2002-2003, CT’s public defender system received $35million in funding.
I’ve written about Virginia’s system before.
While on the subject, Mike at Crime and Federalism asks whether public defenders are better than court appointed attorneys.
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