Public defender
A public defender is a
By country
In
Australia
The Australian states of
The New South Wales Senior Public Defender is Belinda Rigg,
In Queensland, the Legal Aid Office (Queensland) was merged with the Public Defender's Office in 1991, in an expanded service providing clients to access family, civil and all criminal law services.[6]
Brazil
The Constitution of Brazil uniquely provides for a public defenders' office (Defensoria Pública) at both state and federal levels.[7][8] Public defense is a right to poor people, who must declare, formally, that they cannot afford regular legal aid, to benefit from public defenders' services.[8]
Public defenders, like
Public defense in Brazil dates back to 1897, when a decree mandated government-funded legal assistance in the
Germany
Germany provides legal representation, legal advice, and help in covering court costs in civil cases to those who cannot raise the necessary funds to hire an attorney, but only when there is a reasonable chance of success.[12] In criminal cases where the defendant faces at least one year of imprisonment, the defendant has the right to legal counsel.[13] Although there is a right to legal defense, there is no organized public defender system. Instead, any lawyer can be appointed to provide counsel to a specific defendant, and the defendant can select a specific lawyer. Questions of payment are deferred until the end of a trial, and the court will decide the cost of the case to the losing party. The defendant will not be charged for legal services if acquitted. If convicted, the defendant will be required to pay the lawyer's expenses unless the court finds that the defendant is indigent.[14]
Hungary
In Hungary, the police, the public prosecutor or the court (depending on what individual cases require) appoints a criminal defender at the state's cost to defend those who can not afford a chosen lawyer. The defence counsel's participation is required by the Criminal Procedure Act. Usually a private lawyer is appointed, one for each defendant, and conflict of interest between contradicting suspects is avoided, e.g. the same lawyer may not represent two accused whose evidence is mutually contradictory. If convicted, although in principle the defendant is liable for the fee, it is rarely pursued.[citation needed]
India
In India, free legal aid is provided by National Legal Services Authority. It is available at all the levels of court.[15]
Singapore
Legal assistance in Singapore is provided by the State and the Pro Bono Services Office of the Law Society.
The State provides legal assistance in criminal cases where the accused faces the death penalty.[16] The government also provides legal representation and advice in civil cases such as for divorce, child custody, adoption, wrongful dismissal, letters of administration/probate, tenancy disputes, claims in contract and tort, through the Ministry of Law's Legal Aid Bureau (LAB).[17] Assistance from the LAB is not free, and most clients are required to contribute towards the costs of the work done, but the amount a client is charged depends on a number of factors, among them the client's financial means.[18]
The Pro Bono Services Office of the Law Society runs the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme, which provides criminal legal assistance to the poor and needy who are unable to afford a lawyer, and are facing charges in a Singapore court for non death-penalty offences under statutes covered by CLAS.[19]
United Kingdom
There are a small number of
In Scotland a wider network of Public Defender Solicitor Office (PDSO) lawyers employed by the
United States
The 1963 US Supreme Court case Gideon v. Wainwright held that the Sixth Amendment's right to counsel provision[23] requires the government to provide legal counsel to indigent defendants in criminal cases.[24] Different jurisdictions, however, use different approaches in providing legal counsel for criminal defendants who can't afford private attorneys. Exactly which defendants qualify as "indigent" also varies by jurisdiction: Often a state will stipulate a maximum income threshold above which a defendant is not considered to be indigent, and thus does not qualify for a public defender. This threshold may vary depending on the severity of the crime with which a defendant is charged. For example, a defendant's income may be too high to entitle him or her to a public defender in misdemeanor proceedings, but sufficiently low to qualify them as indigent when faced with a felony charge.
The term public defender in the United States is often used to describe a lawyer who is appointed by a court to represent a defendant who cannot afford to hire an attorney. More correctly, a public defender is a lawyer who works for a public defender's office, a government-funded agency that provides legal representation to indigent defendants. The court appoints the public defender's office to represent the defendant, and the office assigns a lawyer to the defendant's case. In the federal criminal court system and some states and counties, representation is through a publicly funded public defender office. The state of Oregon is the only state in which indigent defense is exclusively provided by non-profit firms which are contracted and funded by the state. [25]
Other courts may appoint private lawyers who have agreed to represent indigent defendants, with appointment being either on a contractual basis, through which the lawyer accepts an agreed number of cases from the court for the term of the contract, or a case-by-case basis.[26] The majority of the states in the U.S. employ some combination of these delivery models.[25]
See also
- Duty counsel
- Duty solicitor
- Legal aid
- Legal aid in the United States
Notes
- ^ "About Us". The Public Defenders. 28 February 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
- ^ "History of Public Defenders". The Public Defenders. 28 February 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
- ^ a b "Victoria Legal Aid Chambers". Victoria Legal Aid. 15 October 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
- ^ "List of Current Public Defenders". The Public Defenders. 28 February 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
- ^ "First female Senior Public Defender for NSW". NSW Department of Justice. 29 May 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
- ^ "Legal Aid Queensland". Legal Aid Queensland. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
- ^ "A DEFICIÊNCIA DA DEFENSORIA PÚBLICA BRASILEIRA NA EFETIVAÇÃO DO ACESSO A JUSTIÇA". Retrieved 1 February 2015.
- ^ a b "DEFENSORIA PÚBLICA NO BRASIL – M". www.jfontenelle.net. Archived from the original on 2016-04-22. Retrieved 2012-02-26.
- Ministry of Justice. p. 105
- ^ "Brasil". TNH1. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
- ^ "Defensoria Pública do Estado do Rio de Janeiro". Retrieved 1 February 2015.
- ^ "Legal aid - Germany". European Commission. 22 March 2005.
- ^ "How To Germany - German Law and the German Legal System". www.howtogermany.com.
- ^ "Legal aid in Germany: Outline of the Legal Aid System" (PDF). Open Society Foundations. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
- ^ "Legal aid in India". National Legal Services Authority. 26 February 2019. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
- ^ "Country Information". Archived from the original on 7 November 2013. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
- ^ "What types of cases are handled by LAB?". Retrieved 1 February 2015.
- ^ "Is Legal aid free?". Retrieved 1 February 2015.
- ^ "Seek help for a criminal case". SC Courts - link doesn't work...
- ^ "Public Defender Service". Public Defender Service. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
- ^ "PDS Solicitors". Public Defender Service. 11 August 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
- ^ "Being represented by PDSO". PDSO. 11 December 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
- ^ The amendment reads: "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence."
- ^ "Gideon v. Wainwright". Retrieved 1 February 2015.
- ^ a b "In Your State". Gideon at 50. Retrieved 2021-07-22.
- ^ Liptak, Adam (13 Jul 2007). "Gap Seen Between Court-Appointed Lawyers and Public Defenders". New York Times. Retrieved 31 May 2017.