NCJ Number
91072
Editor(s)
W F McDonald
Date Published
1983
Length
306 pages
Annotation
This series of papers addresses the legal profession's efforts in criminal defense; the characteristics, alternatives, and relative benefits of indigent defense systems; and the quality, effectiveness, and productivity of defense counsel.
Abstract
The opening paper examines the social forces that influenced the expanded right to counsel, arguing that this right will continue to be asserted and protected because it is in the interest of the legal profession's elite segment to do so. The continuing decline of the private criminal defense attorney due to economic influences is documented in the second study. Papers in the second section are devoted to descriptions of various models of defense delivery systems and their differential costs and impacts. Following a history of the public defender movement in America and a detailed analysis of the models of defense delivery systems, a statistical portrait of selected characteristics of a national sample of indigent defense systems and their costs is presented; their underfunded, overworked nature is revealed. The relative benefits of assigned counsel and public defender systems in Virginia are compared, and the impact of type of counsel (retained or public defender) on charge bargaining is examined. Other papers in this section describe two models for delivering indigent defense services that appear to overcome some of the shortcomings of the American models: the Ontario Legal Aid Plan and Denmark's public defender system. The papers in the third section focus on issues related to effectiveness and productivity in the delivery of defense services. Problems in defining defense counsel competence are noted, and alternative models for standards are considered. The basis for developing a framework for measuring the performance of the public defender's office is examined in the concluding chapter. Chapter references and an author index are provided. For individual papers, see NCJ 91073-81.