The crisis in public defense in Louisiana has been well-documented by the news media over the past several years. Stories of overloaded public defenders, unrepresented individuals languishing in jail, and mass pleas have shocked the nation’s conscience, but the system’s shortcomings have long evaded reform. However, much coverage of the public defense crisis in Louisiana, the state with the highest incarceration rate in the nation, has focused its attention on the consequences of the crisis rather than its causes. [Released March 2017]

This 50-State Survey of Financial Eligibility Guidelines for Assigned Counsel documents how states decide who is “too poor” to hire a lawyer. The survey looks at how states define “indigency” and whether or not that definition is consistent with ABA standards for providing defense services. It identifies which states rely on the Federal Poverty Guidelines when determining eligibility for assigned counsel, and explains the origin of the Federal Poverty Guidelines and how they cannot accurately predict who is “too poor” to hire a lawyer. [Released March 2014]

On the surface the federal public defense system is an excellent example of what a healthy, vibrant public defense system should look like. Operating with a mix of institutional defenders and private counsel, a reliable funding stream, a strong infrastructure for training and support services, reasonable caseloads, and respectable rates of compensation for counsel, the federal system is often held out as the gold standard. However during a federal budget crisis, many of the foundational flaws of this lauded system were revealed. 

The private bar plays a vital role in a healthy public defense delivery system. In large cities, private attorneys fill a critical gap, handling cases in which institutional defenders have conflicts and work overload; in small towns the private bar may be the only public defense provider, managing court-appointments in addition to their practices; and in all instances, the private bar brings a crucial perspective and expertise to the public defense system and the clients they represent. Yet in far too many places these lawyers are asked to labor without adequate compensation.

NACDL President Lisa Wayne's comments to the Department of Justice Office of Legal Policy regarding a proposed rule that would allow states to limit federal review of capital post-conviction cases.

Member Richard Kammen's written statement to the House Appropriations Committee regarding adequate funding and training for defender services to ensure adequate representation for those who cannot afford it.

NACDL President Lawrence Goldman's letter to House Judiciary Committee chair Representative Jim Sensenbrenner regarding the Innocence Protection Act of 2001 (H.R. 912).

NACDL President Gerald Goldstein's written statement to the Judicial Conference Committee on Long Range Planning regarding the future of the federal courts as laid out in the proposed long-range plan.

Member Loren Weiss's testimony to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts regarding sufficient funding and availability of federal defender offices and CJA attorneys, pursuant to proposals outlined in the Federal Courts Improvement Act of 1995 (S. 1101).

President John Wesley Hall's statement to the House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security regarding public defense representation in criminal cases in Michigan and elsewhere.

In 2018 NACDL filed a public comment in support of a Petition before the Wisconsin Supreme Court to raise the rate of compensation for court appointed counsel, and declaring its current $40 per hour rate as unreasonable. The Court refused to hold the state's rate unreasonable, but did elect to raise its own court assigned case rate from $70/hour to $100/hr.

Joint Comment from TACDL and NACDL

A report by the Sixth Amendment Center, commissioned by NACDL and supported by the NACDL Foundation for Criminal Justice and Koch Industries. [Released October 2016]

TACDL-NACDL Joint Filing regarding Tennessee Assigned Counsel Rates

Three Minute Justice and Minor Crimes, Major Waste reports.