Public Defender and Legal Aid Systems

Background

In many countries the right to counsel requires the creation of public defender and legal aid systems because most criminal defendants are from low-income backgrounds and cannot afford a paid attorney.

The first public defender

United States

The first state to recognize the right to counsel for indigent defendants was Indiana:

"It is not to be thought of in a civilized community for a moment that any citizen put in jeopardy of life or liberty should be debarred of counsel because he is too poor to employ such aid . . . No court could be expected to respect itself to sit and hear such a trial. The defense of the poor in such cases is a duty which will at once be conceded as essential to the accused, to the court and to the public."

Despite this case, public defender offices were not organized for another 50 years. Private organizations such as the Legal Aid Society in New york were formed as early as 1896. While some private programs, such as the New York Legal Aid Society, were active as early as 1896 in providing counsel to needy immigrants, and the first public defender office began operations in Los Angeles in 1914, such services were non-existent outside of the largest cities.