Expert Working Group Report: International Perspectives on Indigent Defense

摘要

The vast majority of criminal defendants in the United States are too poor to afford a lawyer, yet adequate funding and resources for defense counsel remains an elusive goal. The U.S. Department of Justice (the Department) seeks effective, evidence-based solutions to problems in indigent defense so that the nation can deliver on its constitutionally guaranteed promise to provide legal representation to people accused of crime who cannot afford it. In January 2011, the Department's Access to Justice Initiative (ATJ) and National Institute of Justice's (NIJ) International Center jointly convened an Expert Working Group (EWG) on International Perspectives on Indigent Defense to explore domestic and international practices in indigent defense. That the convening started on the same day that the Governor of Massachusetts announced his plans to overhaul the commonwealth's public defender system was only further evidence of the importance of identifying the best approaches to the delivery of defender services.