Coalition calls for reforms in public defender system
From the Lansing State Journal:
Sphere: Related ContentToday, the Campaign for Justice, a coalition of Michigan legal groups and human rights and faith organizations, launched an effort to reform Michigan’s system to prevent further miscarriages of justice.
The effort builds on a report issued in June that found the state’s system of providing court-appointed attorneys for indigent defendants, now funded through counties, is flawed and failing. The report, offered by the National Legal Aid and Defender Association and the State Bar of Michigan, found that defense attorneys had little time or resources to prepare their cases.
Forty-three states spend more per-capita on indigent defense than Michigan.
Based on this report, the coalition issued a “report card” today for Michigan’s defense system that offered Ds and Fs in nearly every category.
1 comment
State legislators or local governments never give proper importance to public defense services because there is no political gain to be had from supporting pd’s. The only language they understand is lawsuits. Like what the ACLU did to Grant County, Washington.
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