NYCLU sues for better indigent representation

Legislators and local officials typically love to starve indigent defense. The New York Civil Liberties Union has had enough:

the lawsuit is a broad challenge to a patchwork system that has been described by decades of studies and commissions as dysfunctional, underfinanced and “in crisis,” with often poorly trained and poorly supervised lawyers handling huge caseloads. It says indigent clients have been failed by their appointed lawyers all around the state.

“The eyes of the nation will be on New York as it decides this crucial issue,” a brief filed by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers argues.

As the system works now, defendants who are unhappy with their appointed lawyers can generally make those claims only after they are convicted. The court then reviews each appeal case by case. But the civil liberties lawyers argue that a broad review is necessary because the arrangement has not addressed systemic failings that unconstitutionally leave tens of thousands of defendants without meaningful representation in every part of the state.

This is nothing new. “In recent years, there have been cases similar to the New York one in states like Connecticut [in 1999], Indiana, Minnesota, Montana [in 2005] and Washington, with settlements, lower court decisions and inconsistent rulings. The Michigan Supreme Court is to hear a challenge to its public defender program next month.” Not to mention the lawsuit against Pittsburg in the mid-1990s, one in Mississippi in 2001, and more mentioned here.

It sound like things are pretty bad in NY: “Last year, the Legislature passed a law intended to limit defenders’ caseloads in New York City, where on average Legal Aid lawyers each handle more than 700 cases a year. But it is not clear that adequate financing will be provided.” Wow.

Gideon blogged about this two years ago when the suit was filed in November, 2007. It’s sad that we have to sue our government to give real meaning to the constitution (and that it takes so long to get any result), but thank god for the ACLU and its state affiliates.