Holistic Defender Services

Publi defender offices originally viewed themselves as limited strictly to representing indigent defendants in criminal cases. However, starting in XXXX, several offices in the United States began to recognize that they could be could actually prevent crime by using a more holistic model that treated all the circumstances of a client's case.

In 2009, the Bronx Defenders launched the Center for Holistic Defender. The Center defined holistic defense as:

A client-centered adn interdisciplinary model of public defense that addresses the circumstances driving poor people into the criminal justice system and the consequences of that involvement by offering criminal and civil legal representation, social work support, and advoacacy in the client community.