News

Louisiana, World Leader In Incarceration, Cannot Pay Its Public Defenders

Posted on

What becomes of the poor when they are unable to afford access to justice? This question is being put to the test in the state of Louisiana with disastrous results. Although the U.S. Constitution guarantees a right to counsel, too often this does not happen in practice, raising concerns the laws are not worth the paper on which they are written. Louisiana’s public defender system is dead on arrival. As Atlanta Black Star reported in 2016, a financial crisis in the state brought about by former Gov. Bobby Jindal has led to a criminal justice crisis — the collapse of the system of public defenders that serves 250,000 indigent people in criminal cases. As a result, people who are caught in the system — some of whom are innocent of any crime — go unrepresented. Even so, with the state unable to pay attorneys, many defendants will plead guilty in the absence of legal assistance. As The Daily Beast reported, Louisiana is the only state that funds its public defenders through fines and fees rather than taxes. In the Bayou State, 85 percent of people in prison are poor, while Black people are locked up at a rate fully four times higher than whites. Last year, the median amount spent per case was $238, and three-quarters of public defenders have simply stopped taking new cases.”

« Back to News