Difference between revisions of "Public Defender and Legal Aid Systems"
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===Contracted Public Defender Offices=== | ===Contracted Public Defender Offices=== | ||
===Panel Systems=== | ===Panel Systems=== | ||
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Revision as of 16:00, 12 January 2011
Contents
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. <ref>Webb v. Baird, 6 Ind. 13 (1853). The landmark decision was grounded in "the principles of a civilized society."
"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."
Government-Run Public Defender Offices
Contracted Public Defender Offices
Panel Systems
Notes
