The Road to Reform

Louisiana has the highest rate of incarceration of any state in the nation. This statistic should be considered in the context of Louisiana’s historic failure to provide adequate resources for its public defense function. Until 2007, Louisiana was the last remaining state to fund the majority of its constitutional obligation through court costs (a scheme that inspired the Washington Post to call it, “the country’s most bizarre”). More than 90% of all criminal defendants in Louisiana rely on a public defender, and are processed through a criminal justice system that is so overworked that trials are rare, attorney-client contact may not happen until months after arrest, court personnel from all agencies experience high turnover and low morale, and wrongfully convicted people are being released after spending decades in prison.

A report on the public defense system in Louisiana in 2004 found a “disparate system that fosters systemic ineffective assistance of counsel due primarily to inadequate funding and a lack of independence from undue political interference. When combined with the crushing caseloads public defenders are forced to carry, these factors prevent the state from securing justice for all, protecting the peace, and promoting the general welfare of its people…. In fact, the indigent defense system is so broken, it calls into question the ability of the entire criminal justice system to dispense justice fairly and accurately.”[i]

Until recently, public defense was carried out through a variety of delivery mechanisms with only superficial oversight by the state public defender agency. Many offices could not produce accurate caseload information, had limited access to investigative or expert witness resources, only were able to see their clients on the day of trial and struggled to retain qualified, competent counsel. Most public defenders had no health insurance or retirement plan, were forced to pay for their own investigators, support staff, office space and overhead expenses out of inadequate flat fee contracts and handled workloads far in excess of reasonable expectations. As a result, the collective indigent client experience in Louisiana does not reflect a high quality, effective defense program.

In August 2007, Act 307 (the Louisiana Public Defender Reform Act) passed the Louisiana Legislature with 92 co-authors and a wide-sweeping plan to reform the public defense system. Most significantly, this legislation transferred the duties of the Louisiana Indigent Defense Assistance Board (LIDAB) to the Louisiana Public Defender Board (LAPDB). Act 307 dissolved the 41 local indigent defense boards and transferred all supervisory responsibilities to the State Public Defender and LAPDB. For the first time in the history of public defense in Louisiana, the operation of local public defender offices are now protected by law from judicial influence.

LAPDB is authorized to hire and train an executive staff; adopt, implement and enforce performance standards; require local defender offices to keep accurate caseload, personnel and financial data; ensure uniform quality of representation across all of Louisiana’s 41 judicial districts; and, collectively advocate for increased resources for the public defense function.

In recent years, public defenders and their allies in the private bar were able to win increased resources from the state. LJC supported this effort through its public education and media campaign. From 1993-2004, there was almost no adjustment in the state appropriation for public defense. However, from 2004-2008, the Legislature increased the appropriation by more than 400%. Local districts still generate local revenue through surcharges on court costs, but more than half of total public defense funding is distributed through the State Board through General Appropriation from the State of Louisiana. Louisiana can finally shed its distinction as the only state to fund public defense almost completely through local funds and can join the approximately 35 states that are 50% or more state-funded. This transition also means that local public defender budgets will stabilize and public defenders will be much less dependent on law enforcement to assess, collect and distribute fees in order to maintain their budgets.

LAPDB directly supports the following offices: the Louisiana Appellate Project; the Capital Appeals Project, the Capital Post Conviction Project, Innocence Project New Orleans and three Regional Capital Conflict Panels. It also disperses District Assistance Fund Grants that supplement the locally generated revenue of judicial districts across the state. LAPDB has not funded any post-disposition representation for youth in Louisiana since 2005.

In June 2006, LAPDB (then LIDAB) adopted the State of Louisiana Performance Standards for Criminal Defense Representation in Indigent Criminal Cases in the Trial Court. LAPDB currently requires all offices receiving District Assistance Fundsto comply with LAPDB caseload limits. These standards can be viewed on the Louisiana Public Defender Board website at: www.lapdb.org

 

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