Assigned attorneys in most of New York State have not received a raise since 2004, when the legislature set the compensation rate at $60 to $75 per hour. The consequence? A “crisis” in assigned counsel programs, at least three pending…
Tag: funding
The State of the Nation on Gideon’s 60th Anniversary
Pleading the Sixth: The fear of government unduly taking away one’s liberty led the United States Supreme Court to unanimously declare it an “obvious truth” that no indigent person can be assured a fair trial against the “machinery” of law…
Tagged with: Alabama, California, Colorado, Delaware, funding, Gideon v. Wainwright, Guam, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, oversight, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah
Broken Defense, a seven-part series exposes the depths of the indigent defense crisis in western states
Pleading the Sixth: Last week, Lee Enterprises published a seven-part series exposing the indigent defense crisis in the West. With data finally showing what the 6AC has known for years and has found in nearly every study – thousands of…
Tagged with: Actual Denial of COunsel, Arizona, California, caseloads & workloads, Colorado, funding, Idaho, independence, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, oversight, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Wyoming
New Mexico’s independent state commission is a “complete game changer”
Pleading the Sixth: The New Mexico chief public defender recently requested the state legislature for a 21% increase in funding. Ten years ago, the chief public defender was fired a week after telling lawmakers that the system was underfunded. 6AC…
Michigan is ripe for another giant leap toward fulfilling its right to counsel obligations
Pleading the Sixth: A 6AC report finds Oakland County, Michigan’s indigent defense system pits assigned counsels’ financial self-interests against the legal interests of their indigent clients while excess caseloads go unchecked under a county system that lacks adequate oversight and…
Tagged with: evaluations of systems, funding, Michigan, oversight, Pleading the Sixth, standards - system, Ten Principles
2021 Year in Review
By Michael Tartaglia and Kourtney Kinchen 6AC presents this year in review to acknowledge the most significant reforms to how the right to counsel is funded and delivered across the United States. We wish all our readers a happy and…
Tagged with: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, caseloads & workloads, Colorado, Connecticut, criminal justice reform, funding, Idaho, Illinois, indigency - criteria, juvenile delinquencies & status offenses, juvenile transfer hearings, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin
Top