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Indigent Defense StatisticsSummary findings | BJS publications | Data collection | Related sites Summary findings
Right to counsel | Indigent defense services in populous counties | Right to counsel and methods for providing indigent criminal defense The sixth amendment to the U.S. Constitution establishes the right to counsel in Federal criminal prosecution. Through a series of landmark decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court, the right to counsel has been extended to all criminal prosecutions, State or Federal, felony or misdemeanor, that carry a sentence of imprisonment. States and localities use several methods for delivering indigent criminal defense services:
The Federal system also has several types of programs to deliver indigent criminal defense:
Indigent criminal defense services in the Nation's 100 most populous counties Expenditures & funding sources | Caseload | Public defender staffing and private attorney appointments and awarded contracts Among the Nation's 100 most populous counties in 1999, public defender programs were operating in 90 counties, assigned counsel programs in 89 counties, and contract programs in 42 counties.
Public defender staffing and private attorney appointments and awarded contracts State and Federal indigent criminal defendants Conviction rates | Sentence length Publicly financed counsel represented about 66% of Federal felony defendants in 1998 as well as 82% of felony defendants in the 75 most populous counties in 1996.
BJS publications This list is in order of the most recent publication first. Additional titles are listed on other topical pages and a comprehensive list is contained on the BJS publications page. To see a full abstract of a publication with links to electronic versions of the publication, click on the title below. State-Funded Indigent Defense Services, 1999, 09/01.Presents findings from data collected as part of the 1999 National Survey of Indigent Defense Systems in the 21 States where the State government provides virtually all of the funding for indigent defense services. NCJ 188464 Indigent Defense Services in Large Counties, 1999, 11/00. Describes the methods by which criminal indigent defense is delivered in the Nation's 100 most populous counties. NCJ 184932 Defense Counsel in Criminal Cases, 11/00. Examines issues of legal representation for defendants in Federal district court and large local jurisdictions, and inmates in local jails and Federal and State prison. NCJ 179023 Indigent Defense, 2/96. This report of presented selected findings drawn from various BJS surveys contains information related to the indigent defense for criminal defendants. NCJ 158909 National Survey of Indigent Defense Systems measured how indigent criminal defense services are delivered in the Nation's 100 most populous counties. 1999 1999 National Survey of Indigent Defense Systems questionnaires: Program survey (96 K, Acrobat file)
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