The Guardian

The right to counsel, guaranteed by the 6^th Amendment, promises every person, regardless of their charges or resources, has a skilled, zealous advocate by their side when they stand accused of a crime. As Gideon and other cases recognized, defendants' procedural and substantive rights cannot be protected unless every person has an attorney with the resources, skills, and independence to advocate for them. NACDL works to help reform inadequate public defense systems through training and technical assistance, public education, advocacy, and litigation.

For many years, Michigan’s public defense system was deficient, failing to guarantee the effective assistance of counsel required by the Sixth Amendment. Michigan delegated responsibility for providing public defense to individual counties, providing no statewide training for public defense attorneys, no performance standards to govern their practice, and no review of their performance. In 2008, after an extensive investigation, the National Legal Aid and Defender Association issued a report that concluded that Michigan’s systems were some of the nation’s worst. 

Complaint filed in Duncan v. State of Michigan, a civil rights class action brought pursuant to the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment alleging inadequate funding and oversight of indigent defense services. 
 

Complaint and NACDL's amicus brief filed in Duncan v. State of Michigan, a civil rights class action brought pursuant to the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment alleging inadequate funding and oversight of indigent defense services

State ex rel. Missouri Public Defender Commission, Cathy R. Kelly and Rod Hackathorn v. The Honorable John S. Waters and the Honorable Mark Orr (Mo. 2012)

Powerpoint slides by Melinda Pendergraph. Presented at the NACDL Post-Dobbs Defender Skills Summit in July 2023

Access to high caliber training is critical to ensuring defense lawyers are able to fulfill their role as a meaningful check on government abuse, a knowledgeable advisor, and a zealous advocate on behalf of their clients. To help public defense lawyers get access to this training, NACDL, through generous grant funding, offers scholarship assistance. Scholarships are awarded in the form of full or partial reimbursements of registration. Limited travel reimbursement stipends may also be awarded to help defray the costs of travel and lodging.

As a result of generous grant funding, NACDL is able to offer scholarship assistance to public defense providers to attend training programs of their choice. Scholarships are awarded in the form of full or partial reimbursement of the registration costs of programs. Limited travel reimbursement stipends may also be awarded to qualifying individuals to help defray the costs of travel and lodging.

Use the form below to apply for NACDL's public defense scholarship.

In 2023 the ABA adopted a revised version of the Ten Principles of a Public Defense Delivery System. These replaced the version initially adopted in 2002. 

Groundbreaking Report Offers Solutions to America’s Indigent Defense Crisis as Nation Marks 50 Years of Gideon v. Wainwright -- Washington, DC (January 8, 2013) – As the nation enters the 50th anniversary year of Gideon, the landmark Supreme Court decision clarifying that the Sixth Amendment’s right to counsel applies regardless of whether a defendant can afford to pay an attorney, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) and the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Legal Aid & Indigent Defendants (ABA/SCLAID)...

We are deeply concerned about the devastating impact of proposed cuts to the federal indigent defense system. … Unless corrected, these cuts could cause the loss of 9-12% of current federal defender staff—even after defenders cut critical programming such as training and IT improvements. Such layoffs would almost certainly decimate the federal defender system, degrade the overall quality of federal indigent defense, and undermine the administration of justice for countless federal defendants. …

We are deeply concerned about the devastating impact of cuts proposed by the House Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government on the federal indigent defense system. The House subcommittee’s mark is $122 million less than requested and could cause the loss of 9% of current federal defender staff. Such layoffs would almost certainly decimate the federal defender system, degrade the overall quality of federal indigent defense, and undermine the administration of justice.

As a result of generous grant funding, NACDL is able to offer scholarship assistance to public defense attorneys to attend training programs.

Americans’ right to legal counsel protects all of us against the government’s power to lock us away, confiscate our possessions, and deny us the ability to earn a living.

Six decades after the Supreme Court’s decision in Gideon v. Wainwright, the promise of that ruling remains unfulfilled.