Public Defenders And The American Justice System

Author : Paul B. Wice
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 224 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2005-06-30
Category : Law
ISBN : 9780313049040

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Public Defenders and the American Justice System by Paul B. Wice Pdf

Eighty to ninety percent of the nation's urban criminal defendants are defended in court by public defenders. Thus, understanding how these defender programs operate, their effectiveness and the quality of professional life for these beleaguered and often underpaid attorneys, is a critical factor in improving local criminal justice systems. What is it like to practice law in such an inhospitable environment, where clients often revile their counsel and prosecutors hold defenders in contempt? How does a public defender maintain self-esteem and dignity? What are the particular problems and obstacles of public defender offices? And how might such departments overcome these obstacles so that defendants and defenders, as well as the public, benefit? In vivid prose, and with vignettes and quotes from the lawyers themselves, Wice answers these questions and paints a truer picture of the state of public defenders offices than most of us have from television and the media. Through a colorful profile of a reform-minded public defender's office Newark, N.J., one of the nation's most crime-ridden smaller cities, Wice examines the public defender system and shows how even the smallest reforms, especially those that address quality of life and work for public defenders, can make a big difference. Comparing the smaller defender's office to larger ones in such cities as New York and Chicago, which have not instituted significant reforms, the author illustrates the successes that can be found when change is implemented. Flaws remain, but with improved services and work environments, this important component of the overburdened criminal justice system can function more effectively, creating a system that benefits lawyers, defendants, and the community alike.

Author : Sara Mayeux
Publisher : UNC Press Books
Page : 287 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2020-04-28
Category : Law
ISBN : 9781469656038

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Free Justice by Sara Mayeux Pdf

Every day, in courtrooms around the United States, thousands of criminal defendants are represented by public defenders--lawyers provided by the government for those who cannot afford private counsel. Though often taken for granted, the modern American public defender has a surprisingly contentious history--one that offers insights not only about the "carceral state," but also about the contours and compromises of twentieth-century liberalism. First gaining appeal amidst the Progressive Era fervor for court reform, the public defender idea was swiftly quashed by elite corporate lawyers who believed the legal profession should remain independent from the state. Public defenders took hold in some localities but not yet as a nationwide standard. By the 1960s, views had shifted. Gideon v. Wainwright enshrined the right to counsel into law and the legal profession mobilized to expand the ranks of public defenders nationwide. Yet within a few years, lawyers had already diagnosed a "crisis" of underfunded, overworked defenders providing inadequate representation--a crisis that persists today. This book shows how these conditions, often attributed to recent fiscal emergencies, have deep roots, and it chronicles the intertwined histories of constitutional doctrine, big philanthropy, professional in-fighting, and Cold War culture that made public defenders ubiquitous but embattled figures in American courtrooms.

Author : Howard G. Franklin
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 578 pages
File Size : 55,7 Mb
Release : 2014-10-15
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 099083980X

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Gideon's Children by Howard G. Franklin Pdf

Set amidst the tumultuous and transformative 1960s, Gideon's Children tells the fascinating story of the idealistic young men and women who staffed the newly formed and expanded Public Defender Offices after the Supreme Court's momentous 1963 decision that mandated the right to counsel when charged with a crime. Facing virulent bias, they summoned a warrior spirit, and like Rocky in the courtroom, bravely led a revolution within the Criminal Justice System as part of the greater Civil Rights Movement. With the spotlight focused on five young Public Defenders fiercely battling prosecutors, cops, and judges within the raw environment of murder, rape, robbery, and drugs, as the intense drama unfolds, the novel weaves together the threads that form its essential lesson: That the power of the State is enormous, and that the only true protection against governmental abuse of power is the individual's supremely valuable constitutional rights! Increasingly relevant today in view of the 1984-like issues arising under the Patriot Act and highly invasive governmental spying, this lesson reminds that the more things change, the more they stay the same, as further evidenced by the disproportionate share of young black men in our prisons, and others killed for walking and driving while black.

Author : Norman Lefstein
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 292 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2011
Category : Legal assistance to the poor
ISBN : 0615543766

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Securing Reasonable Caseloads by Norman Lefstein Pdf

For the criminal justice system to work, adequate resources must be available for police, prosecutors and public defense. This timely, incisive and important book by Professor Norman Lefstein looks carefully at one leg of the justice system's "three-legged stool"public defenseand the chronic overload of cases faced by public defenders and other lawyers who represent the indigent. Fortunately, the publication does far more than bemoan the current lack of adequate funding, staffing and other difficulties faced by public defense systems in the U.S. and offers concrete suggestions for dealing with these serious issues.

Author : Robert L. Spangenberg
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 20 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 1998
Category : Criminal justice, Administration of
ISBN : PURD:32754068873128

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Improving State and Local Criminal Justice Systems by Robert L. Spangenberg Pdf

Author : Caroline Wolf Harlow
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 12 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2001
Category : Criminal law
ISBN : IND:30000078911637

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Defense Counsel in Criminal Cases by Caroline Wolf Harlow Pdf

Author : Mayer C. Goldman
Publisher : Legislative Reference Bureau
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 1974
Category : Public defenders
ISBN : UCAL:B4977147

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The Public Defender by Mayer C. Goldman Pdf

The author seeks to have an office of the public defender established. He reasons that it is as much the function of the state to shield the innocent as to convict the guilty and that the presumption of innocence requires the state to defend as well as prosecute those accused of a crime.

Author : Jonathan Rapping
Publisher : National Geographic Books
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2021-05-04
Category : Law
ISBN : 9780807064580

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Gideon's Promise by Jonathan Rapping Pdf

A blueprint for criminal justice reform that lays the foundation for how model public defense programs should work to end mass incarceration. Combining wisdom drawn from over a dozen years as a public defender and cutting-edge research in the fields of organizational and cultural psychology, Jonathan Rapping proposes a radical cultural shift to a “fiercely client-based ethos” driven by values-based recruitment training, awakening defenders to their role in upholding an unjust status quo, and a renewed pride in the essential role of moral lawyering in a democratic society. Public defenders represent over 80% of those who interact with the court system, a disproportionate number of whom are poor, non-white citizens who rely on them to navigate the law on their behalf. More often than not, even the most well-meaning of those defenders are over-worked, under-funded, and incentivized to put the interests of judges and politicians above those of their clients in a culture that beats the passion out of talented, driven advocates, and has led to an embarrassingly low standard of justice for those who depend on the promises of Gideon v. Wainwright. However, rather than arguing for a change in rules that govern the actions of lawyers, judges, and other advocates, Rapping proposes a radical cultural shift to a “fiercely client-based ethos” driven by values-based recruitment and training, awakening defenders to their role in upholding an unjust status quo, and a renewed pride in the essential role of moral lawyering in a democratic society. Through the story of founding Gideon’s Promise and anecdotes of his time as a defender and teacher, Rapping reanimates the possibility of public defenders serving as a radical bulwark against government oppression and a megaphone to amplify the voices of those they serve.

Author : David Feige
Publisher : Little Brown & Company
Page : 276 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2006
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 031615623X

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Indefensible by David Feige Pdf

With verve and insider know-how, a young lawyer reveals his outrageous and heartbreaking long day's journey into night court.

Author : Jonathan Rapping
Publisher : Beacon Press
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2020-08-18
Category : Law
ISBN : 9780807064986

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Gideon's Promise by Jonathan Rapping Pdf

A criminal defense attorney “tugs at both the heartstrings and our consciences as he challenges America’s true commitment to justice” (Stacey Abrams), offering a blueprint for how public defense programs should work to end mass incarceration Combining wisdom drawn from over a dozen years as a public defender and cutting-edge research in the fields of organizational and cultural psychology, Jonathan Rapping proposes a radical cultural shift to a “fiercely client-based ethos” driven by values-based recruitment training, awakening defenders to their role in upholding an unjust status quo, and a renewed pride in the essential role of moral lawyering in a democratic society. Public defenders represent over 80% of those who interact with the court system, a disproportionate number of whom are poor, non-white citizens who rely on them to navigate the law on their behalf. More often than not, even the most well-meaning of those defenders are over-worked, under-funded, and incentivized to put the interests of judges and politicians above those of their clients in a culture that beats the passion out of talented, driven advocates, and has led to an embarrassingly low standard of justice for those who depend on the promises of Gideon v. Wainwright. Through the story of founding Gideon’s Promise and anecdotes of his time as a defender and teacher, Rapping reanimates the possibility of public defenders serving as a radical bulwark against government oppression and a megaphone to amplify the voices of those they serve.

Author : Matthew Clair
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2020-11-17
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780691205878

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Privilege and Punishment by Matthew Clair Pdf

How the attorney-client relationship favors the privileged in criminal court—and denies justice to the poor and to working-class people of color The number of Americans arrested, brought to court, and incarcerated has skyrocketed in recent decades. Criminal defendants come from all races and economic walks of life, but they experience punishment in vastly different ways. Privilege and Punishment examines how racial and class inequalities are embedded in the attorney-client relationship, providing a devastating portrait of inequality and injustice within and beyond the criminal courts. Matthew Clair conducted extensive fieldwork in the Boston court system, attending criminal hearings and interviewing defendants, lawyers, judges, police officers, and probation officers. In this eye-opening book, he uncovers how privilege and inequality play out in criminal court interactions. When disadvantaged defendants try to learn their legal rights and advocate for themselves, lawyers and judges often silence, coerce, and punish them. Privileged defendants, who are more likely to trust their defense attorneys, delegate authority to their lawyers, defer to judges, and are rewarded for their compliance. Clair shows how attempts to exercise legal rights often backfire on the poor and on working-class people of color, and how effective legal representation alone is no guarantee of justice. Superbly written and powerfully argued, Privilege and Punishment draws needed attention to the injustices that are perpetuated by the attorney-client relationship in today’s criminal courts, and describes the reforms needed to correct them.

Author : Kate Akester
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 78 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2001
Category : Criminal investigation
ISBN : STANFORD:36105062981878

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Public Defenders by Kate Akester Pdf

Author : Kevin Davis
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 324 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 2008-09-02
Category : Law
ISBN : 9780743270946

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Defending the Damned by Kevin Davis Pdf

Award-winning journalist Davis spent a year in Chicago's Cook County Public Defender's office for this look into the American justice system. More than 300,000 cases go through this office--some involving the death penalty--with approximately 600 public defenders to work them.

Author : Allen Goodman
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 237 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2023-04-24
Category : History
ISBN : 9780226826233

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Everyone Against Us by Allen Goodman Pdf

"In the American judicial system, even accused murderers, rapists, arsonists, and child abusers have voices and rights; and as the Miranda warning says, if they cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed to represent them. Enter the public defender, who must try to help people who have done reprehensible things--no matter their personal assessment of the client and situation. Former PD Allen Goodman draws upon a deep understanding of that milieu, conveying its complexities and dilemmas, reveling in great moral victories, enduring administrative inanity, and staggering from defeats. It is an intensely idealistic job, but also one that breeds corrosive cynicism. Goodman limns the difficulties of remaining a good human being while defending the worst of them"--

Author : Alec Karakatsanis
Publisher : The New Press
Page : 130 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2019-10-29
Category : Law
ISBN : 9781620975282

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Usual Cruelty by Alec Karakatsanis Pdf

From an award-winning civil rights lawyer, a profound challenge to our society's normalization of the caging of human beings, and the role of the legal profession in perpetuating it Alec Karakatsanis is interested in what we choose to punish. For example, it is a crime in most of America for poor people to wager in the streets over dice; dice-wagerers can be seized, searched, have their assets forfeited, and be locked in cages. It's perfectly fine, by contrast, for people to wager over international currencies, mortgages, or the global supply of wheat; wheat-wagerers become names on the wings of hospitals and museums. He is also troubled by how the legal system works when it is trying to punish people. The bail system, for example, is meant to ensure that people return for court dates. But it has morphed into a way to lock up poor people who have not been convicted of anything. He's so concerned about this that he has personally sued court systems across the country, resulting in literally tens of thousands of people being released from jail when their money bail was found to be unconstitutional. Karakatsanis doesn't think people who have gone to law school, passed the bar, and sworn to uphold the Constitution should be complicit in the mass caging of human beings—an everyday brutality inflicted disproportionately on the bodies and minds of poor people and people of color and for which the legal system has never offered sufficient justification. Usual Cruelty is a profoundly radical reconsideration of the American "injustice system" by someone who is actively, wildly successfully, challenging it.