The Public Defender System: A Comparative Assessment

In 2013, the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington issued a stunning decision. The Court handed down a ruling that found a broken indigent defense system to “an extent that ‘the individual defendant is not represented in any meaningful way, and actual innocence could conceivably go unnoticed and unchampioned.’”2 In this decision, the Court intended a strong message to the nation: “If you’re not running a public defense system that complies with the constitution, you’d better fix it.” There are three types of indigent defense models used throughout the United States. They are: “1) public defender systems; 2) assigned counsel; and 3) contract counsel.”3 The type discussed mainly in this Note is the public defender model. The state or county is the primary funding source in the public defender model.4 A public defender’s job is to represent indigent defendants. “Indigent defense involves the use of publicly financed counsel to represent criminal