This story comes from a
discussion on ABCNews.com. In the video, criminal defense lawyers say the practice of providing attorneys for those who can't afford them is under stress because it is so unpopular to use tax dollars to fund lawyers for suspects.
One person on the panel,
Malia Brink of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, says some Chicago public defenders handle 1,600 misdemeanor cases a year. That means each lawyer must prepare for and resolve four or five cases every day.
That kind of caseload, she says, leads to a "meet and plead" system, not a justice system in which a lawyer can interview witnesses, explain the charges to the accused and determine if the arrest was proper.
Go spend some time at your public defender's office:
- What is the caseload like?
- How much time do lawyers spend on individual cases that are not high-profile crimes?
- How do public defenders deal with often representing clearly guilty and not very nice people day after day? What keeps them going?
- How often, do they suspect, a person who is not guilty gets chewed up in the legal sausage mill while the lawyers are handling so many cases every day?
