Indigent Defense / Public Defender Systems

Restraining Excessive Defender Caseloads: The ABA Ethics Committee Requires Action
The Champion Magazine
By: Professor Norman Lefstein and Georgia Vagenas
"The ABA ethics opinion should be understood as a call to action by both individual defenders burdened with excessive caseloads, as well as by supervisors and heads of defender programs."

ABA Formal Opinion 06-441
Ethical Obligations of Lawyers Who Represent Indigent Criminal Defendants When Excessive Caseloads Interfere With Competent and Diligent Representation.

As a special service to the public defender community, the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility is providing Formal Opinion 06-441 at no charge. Pursuant to agreement with the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility, the ABA Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants will authorize duplication of multiple copies of ABA Formal Opinion 06-441 for non-profit purposes. Requests for duplication of copies should be addressed to .

Indigent Defense: National Developments in 2007
By: Georgia N. Vagenas
Criminal Justice, Winter 2008, Volume 22, Number 4

The State of Criminal Justice 2007-2008

This annual publication examines and reports on the major issues, trends and significant changes in the criminal justice system. This publication serves as an invaluable resource for policy-makers, academics, and students of the criminal justice system alike. Chapter 8, which is authored by Georgia N. Vagenas and Robert L. Spangenberg, addresses recent developments in indigent defense.

Mediation in Criminal Matters Project and Mini-Grants

Gideon's Broken Promise: America's Continuing Quest for Equal Justice

A report on the ABA's hearings on the right to counsel in criminal proceedings, concluding that 40 years after the Gideon decision, the promise of equal justice for the poor remains unfulfilled in this country.

ABA Ten Principles of a Public Defense Delivery System (PDF)

The Principles constitute the fundamental criteria necessary to design a system that provides effective, efficient, high quality, ethical, conflict-free legal representation for criminal defendants who are unable to afford an attorney.