ABA Ten Principles

ABA Ten Principles of a Public Defense Delivery System 

The mission of the American Bar Association is “to be the national representative of the legal profession, serving the public and the profession by promoting justice, professional excellence and respect for the law.” Its 400,000 members include judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys, and lawyers practicing civil law. Its Ten Principles of a Public Defense Delivery System have been used by numerous states, including Texas, Georgia and Montana, as a prominent guidepost for reform. 

The Ten Principles of an Indigent Defense Delivery System provide standards that

  • Ensure fundamental fairness to defendants who cannot afford to hire an attorney

  • Ensure that the indigent defense system is accountable to taxpayers and transparent to policy makers

  • Ensure public safety and improving public confidence in the criminal justice system

 

The Ten Principles are as follows:

  1. INDEPENDENCE

The public defense function, including the selection, funding and payment of defense counsel is independent from other agencies in the criminal

justice system and free from undue political interference. The public defense system should be overseen by a nonpartisan board, not the judicial system, and public defenders should be hired on the basis of merit.

  1. STATEWIDE FUNDING AND STRUCTURE

When the caseload is sufficiently high, the public defense delivery system utilizes both a public defender office and the active participation of the private bar. Since the responsibility to provide defense services rests with the state, there should be state funding and a statewide structure to ensure uniform quality statewide.

  1. PROMPT APPOINTMENT OF COUNSEL

Clients are screened for eligibility and assigned a public defender as soon as possible after client’s arrest, detention or request for a lawyer, usually within 24 hours.

  1. CONFIDENTIAL MEETING SPACE

Defense counsel must be allowed adequate time and a confidential meeting space to meet with the client.

  1. REASONABLE WORKLOAD

Defense counsel’s workload is limited to allow for ethical, quality representation. National standards should never be exceeded, and limited support staff or a defender’s nonrepresentational duties may further reduce the caseload limits.

  1. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Defense counsel’s ability, training and experience match the complexity of the case.

  1. CONTINUOUS REPRESENTATION

The same attorney continuously represents the client through all stages of the proceeding. Effective lawyering is impossible in an assembly line system of indigent defense.

  1. RESOURCE PARITY

There is parity between defense counsel and the prosecution with respect to resources. There should be parity of workload, salaries and other resources (such as benefits, technology, facilities, support staff, investigators and access to forensic services and experts). Further, defense counsel is included and treated as an equal partner in the criminal justice system.

  1. TRAINING

Defense counsel is provided with and required to attend continuing legal education.

  1. ACCOUNTABILITY

Defense counsel is supervised and systematically reviewed for quality and efficiency according to national and locally adopted performance standards.

 

For a link to the actual text of the Ten Principles of a Public Defense Delivery System, including commentary, please visit the ABA site at: http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/downloads/sclaid/resolution107.pdf 

In 2005, the Louisiana Justice Coalition graded Louisiana’s system against each of the Ten Principles and found Louisiana to be failing 8 of the Ten Principles, and receiving a ‘C’ and a ‘D’ in the remaining two standards. To see the LJC Report Card for an explanation of these grades, please click here.