FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

State fails to meet 9 of 10 national indigent defense standards


Assembly Line Justice in Louisiana


BATON ROUGE, LA, Mar. 9, 2004 – If you’re poor in Louisiana, you have no real access to justice. This is the inevitable conclusion of In Defense of Public Access to Justice: An Assessment of Trial-Level Indigent Defense Services in Louisiana 40 Years After Gideon, a report released today by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) and researched by the National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA). Rather than constructing a “uniform system for securing and compensating qualified counsel for indigents” at “each stage of the proceeding” as required by the Louisiana Constitution, In Defense of Public Access to Justice documents “the significant extent to which Louisiana has failed to protect the rights of people of insufficient means faced with the potential loss of liberty in criminal proceedings.” (Report at p. 19).

Forty-one years ago, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court concluded in the case of Gideon v. Wainwright that the right to counsel in criminal proceedings is a fundamental part of due process and that state governments are responsible for providing a public defense system that ensures this basic right. In Defense of Public Access to Justice documents that Louisiana fails to meet nine of the American Bar Association’s well-respected 10 Principles of a Public Defense Delivery System – principles designed to provide guidance to policymakers as they seek to ensure compliance with the Gideon mandate. “The substantial failing of the system to meet these standards can only mean that the indigent defense system devised by the legislature in Louisiana delivers ineffective, inefficient, poor quality, unethical, conflict-ridden representation to the poor.” (Report at p. 56)

"The indigent defense system in Louisiana is fundamentally broken,” noted the report’s principal author, David J. Carroll, NLADA Director of Research and Evaluations. Carroll explained: “Serious structural and financial problems plague Louisiana’s indigent defense system, and simply throwing more money at the system won’t fix the problem. The state must undertake a thoughtful, informed and reflective process if it hopes to meet its constitutional obligations to provide counsel to the poor and avoid costly systemic litigation over the issue. Fortunately, that opportunity exists now with the newly-created state Task Force on Indigent Defense. NLADA and NACDL both stand ready, willing and able to assist the Task Force as it undertakes this important work.”

Alexandria attorney Gary Proctor notes, “Louisiana’s refusal over the past 40 years to adequately fund and oversee public defense hurts poor people throughout the state. We need look no further than last week’s trial of Johnny Lee Bell in Alexandria to see what happens when justice is delivered in an assembly line fashion rather than taking into account the particulars of each individual case.”

As NACDL’s president-elect Barry Scheck points out, the failure of Louisiana’s indigent defense system has far-reaching public safety and fiscal implications for all people in the state: “When an indigent defense system fails, as it clearly has in Louisiana, innocent people go to prison while the people who actually commit crimes remain free – oftentimes committing more crimes. This undermines citizens’ faith in the criminal justice system. Furthermore, the added long-term fiscal costs that result from the state’s failure to invest in justice on the front-end – such as the costs of pre-trial and post-disposition incarceration, appeals, re-trial, settlements with innocent people who have been unfairly convicted, and systemic litigation – all of these costs are borne by taxpayers and community businesses on the back-end. Thus, when justice is not delivered in a fair, correct, swift and final manner, taxpayers shoulder an enormous increase in costs while at the same time remaining vulnerable to crime – the community bears the cost of the state’s fiscally irresponsible policies.”

Indeed, the report itself notes “Investing in indigent defense services produces cost savings throughout the rest of the criminal justice system. Louisiana legislators must examine and repair the system that allows vast amounts of unused resources to sit in bank accounts across the state while constitutional rights are not protected due to lack of funding.” (Report at p. 67). At the close of 2002, Louisiana district attorneys collectively had over $38 million in reserves (p. 53), while Louisiana sheriffs collectively had over $310 million sitting unspent in reserve accounts. (p. 67) Combined, these reserve funds are enough to fund indigent defense at its current low level for the next 11 ½ years.

NACDL President E.E. (Bo) Edwards notes that “NACDL has the resources to work with the legislature, the judiciary and the state bar to improve Louisiana’s public defender system. Litigation is, of course, a last resort. But sometimes it is necessary where states have not taken action to improve failing indigent defense systems and to ensure that our precious constitutional rights are not just words on paper, but live and breathe in us all, rich and poor alike.”
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For full statements of NACDL President and President-Elect, click here.
To read the report, click here.
For more information, including report highlights, visit www.nacdl.org/avoyelles
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is the preeminent organization advancing the mission of the criminal defense bar to ensure justice and due process for persons accused of crime or wrongdoing. A professional bar association founded in 1958, NACDL’s 12,000-plus direct members in 28 countries – and 90 state, provincial and local affiliate organizations totaling more than 40,000 attorneys – include private criminal defense lawyers, public defenders, military defense counsel, law professors and judges committed to preserving fairness and promoting a rational and humane criminal justice system.



National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL)
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