American Bar Association says Poor People Get Inferior Legal Representation

Thousands of suspects unable to afford lawyers are wrongly convicted each year because they are pressured to accept guilty pleas or have incompetent attorneys, an American Bar Association reports says. The study by a committee of the nation's largest lawyer group says that legal representation of indigents is in "a state of crisis." These defendants are at constant risk of wrongful conviction and unjust punishment, including the death penalty, according to the study released this week. "The fundamental right to a lawyer that Americans assume applies to everyone effectively does not exist for countless people," the study states.  "All too often, defendants plead guilty, even if they are innocent."  The ABA committee wants Congress and local governments to spend more money and create oversight groups to guard against shoddy legal work. It has been more than 40 years since the Supreme Court ruled the government must provide lawyers to indigent defendants charged with serious crimes.  The report comes one week after President Bush called for more training for lawyers who represent accused killers and greater use of DNA testing. That proposal is not on the agenda at the ABA winter meeting in Salt Lake City, which runs through Tuesday. The report notes that in recent years mounting evidence of wrongful convictions proves that the phenomenon is much more common than once believed, with one study putting the number potentially as high as 10,000 annually nationwide. While there are many reasons why innocent people are convicted, the best defense against such miscarriages of justice is effective, well-trained defense lawyers. In addition to its extensive findings, the report makes a number of recommendations on how the country can improve its indigent defense systems. Chief among the recommendations is the call for states to increase funding for indigent defense to a level that ensures uniform quality legal representation, and for the federal government to financially support the provision of indigent defense services in state courts as well. [more] and [more]

• Pictured Above:  The ABA study points to people like Brandon Moon of Kansas City, Mo., who served nearly 17 years for the rape of an El Paso, Texas, woman before DNA tests determined he was not responsible; and Ryan Matthews, a Louisiana man who sat on death row for five years before he was exonerated.

• Full report is [here]