How to Defend Those Who Defend: An Examination of the Underfunded Public Defender System

The public defender system in the United States is in an indigent defense crisis because the system is unable to provide adequate representation to the citizens they are supposed speak on behalf of. The growing attention on the system today is shedding light on public defenders’ stifling caseloads and the people who are failing to receive the legal representation to which they are entitled by the United States Constitution. The time constraints that public defenders have has rendered them unable to give their clients adequate representation in court. The purpose of this research is to examine how the public defender system has entered this crisis, to explore the potential solutions that are provided by legal experts, to address the shortcomings in the system, and to see what can be feasibly done to improve it. The specific shortcomings that will be investigated include the lack of financial support given to public defenders; the disparate impact a lack of public defenders has on specific communities; and how enacting legislation would allow the federal government to bring actions against states and localities that fail to provide poor defendants with adequate representation.