TDB: Louisiana Can’t Pay for Public Defenders, So Inmates Are Pleading Guilty

[Virginiá]

Louisiana Can’t Afford to Pay for Public Defenders, So Inmates Are Pleading Guilty

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/05/12/louisiana-can-t-afford-to-pay-for-jailhouse-lawyers-so-inmates-are-pleading-guilty

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What is the point of public defenders now? Are they just people who arrange plea deals (IF that, evidently)? I get that if you want a good defense, you should expect to pay a fair amount of money, but public defenders often don't seem able to provide any defense. It doesn't feel like the spirit of "right to attorney" is being respected. Sure, they may technically be attorneys, but are they actually doing even a minimum of what was expected long ago?


And our criminal justice problems don't stop there. Semi-unrelated:

http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/america-tonight-blog/2013/12/6/federal-prosecutorsenhancementshumanrightswatch.html

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The entire system seems stacked against the people, and plea deals are forced down the defendant's throat using fear and virtual blackmail of having the book thrown at them after a trial.

Does this really seem like a healthy system?

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Or I guess, the government is just that good?

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

It's tied to the lack of funding for Public Defenders - they are incredibly overworked and underfunded and  not only in LA.

http://www.npr.org/2017/03/10/519211293/public-defenders-hard-to-come-by-in-louisiana

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https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/03/missouri-public-defender-crisis/519444/

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Much of America's justice system is a sick joke, dominated by a pay-to-win reality.