Friday, June 29, 2007

Criminal Justice – Question 6

Question for Julie Kate K. How does South Carolina provide defense counsel for the indigent, and what problems are associated with how this is done? (Write separate paragraphs on each point with an extra line separating the paragraphs!)
Posted by Robert Botsch, USCA Political Science at 11:28 AM

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

In civil litigation, no one is guaranteed a right to an attorney; however, when a person is charged with a criminal offense legal counsel must be provided regardless if the defendant can afford it. The defendant must be provided the basic tools to prepare an adequate defense. These tools include resources as expert witnesses, psychiatric examinations, forensic experts, DNA tests, and other sources of information that are important for their defense. Defendants that lack significant financial resources are rarely able to mount a defense comparable to that of any wealthy litigant. The first way SC can furnish legal assistance to accused individuals is by a public defender corporation. These type of corporation is a non-governmental agency that exists in most countries. These bodies are organized by the bar associations in one or more countries, which then employs a public defender on either a full or part-time basis. Public defenders are compensated by numerous ways, but most of their salary is derived from a state fund. The Indigent Defense Fund totals only about $14 million, of which $4 million is derived from the state general fund- the remainder consisted of grants and moneys provided from countries, bar associations, and other sources.

Since most criminal defendants are indigent, public defenders are used a lot. Therefore, the Indigent Defense Fund is short of money. If public defenders are unavailable, the courts appoint private attorneys to represent indigent clients, which cause two big problems for the legal community. First, the attorneys appointed are not happy to be designated to that person since the pay is very low. If the Indigent Defense Fund is low, then the legal expenses cannot exceed $5000, which is very unfair for the defendant. Public defenders are overworked and underpaid, and they lack the necessary components for making an adequate case.

Julie Kate

July 1, 2007 3:21 PM
Robert Botsch said...

Nice job -- bottom line is you cannot expect an "OJ" level of defense if you cannot pay for it yourself! You are likely to get a lawyer in training or someone who resents having to defend you for so little money.

Bob B

July 3, 2007 2:40 PM

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