Betty Nichols & Jeff Weaver 
Indigent Defense 
Federal Support and International Perspectives

Pursuant to the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, every person accused of a crime is afforded the right to have counsel in his or her defense, even if unable to afford such representation. Individuals accused of a crime but unable to afford representation, referred to as indigent defendants, often rely on entities such as public defender offices for the provision of counsel. Several organizations, including the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, conducted national studies of indigent defense, pointing out many challenges in providing counsel across the country, including inadequate funding of defense programs as a whole, inadequate compensation for assigned counsel, lack of investigative resources, inexperienced counsel, and understaffing of public defense offices. In affording indigent defendants their right to counsel, both state and local governments generally decide the type of indigent defense programs to employ and how to fund them. This book provides a look at federal support and international perspectives of indigent defense.