Difference between revisions of "Public Defender and Legal Aid Systems"
| Line 4: | Line 4: | ||
The first public defender | The first public defender | ||
==United States== | ==United States== | ||
| − | The first state to recognize the [[Right to Counsel|right to counsel]] for indigent defendants was Indiana | + | The first state to recognize the [[Right to Counsel|right to counsel]] for indigent defendants was Indiana: |
| − | <blockquote>"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." <blockquote/> | + | <blockquote>"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."<ref>Webb v. Baird, 6 Ind. 13 (1853)<ref/> <blockquote/> |
===Government-Run Public Defender Offices=== | ===Government-Run Public Defender Offices=== | ||
===Contracted Public Defender Offices=== | ===Contracted Public Defender Offices=== | ||
Revision as of 16:02, 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:
"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."<ref>Webb v. Baird, 6 Ind. 13 (1853)Cite error: The opening
<ref>tag is malformed or has a bad nameGovernment-Run Public Defender Offices
Contracted Public Defender Offices
Panel Systems
Notes
