SOUTHERN CENTER RELEASES NEW EVIDENCE OF GEORGIASFAILED INDIGENT DEFENSE SYSTEM
83 Poplar Street, N.W.
Atlanta, Georgia30303
404/ 688-1202 voice
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February 19, 2003 Media contact: Sara Totonchi
404/688-1202 or 404/314-2230 cell
stotonchi@schr.org
SOUTHERN CENTER RELEASES NEW EVIDENCE OF GEORGIA'S FAILED INDIGENT DEFENSE SYSTEM
Current Legislative Session is Opportunity for Much-Needed
Reform
Atlanta, Georgia - February 19, 2003- According to a new report released today by the Southern Center for Human Rights (SCHR), poor people accused of crimes in Georgia continue to face the judicial process without - or with inadequate - legal representation. The study, If You Cannot Afford a Lawyer, provides anecdotal evidence of people languishing in Georgia jails or facing trials without their constitutionally required lawyer, and details the many ways in which the system is broken.
The report, based on three years of defendant interviews, courtroom observations and case research, is an update to the SCHR's initial study Promises to Keep: Achieving Fairness and Equal Justice for the Poor in Criminal Cases (November 2000). The report emphasizes the urgent need for an overhaul of indigent defense funding and delivery, and supports findings released in December by the Chief Justice's Commission on Indigent Defense and The Spangenberg Group.
"Every day that we put off reform is another day where people's constitutional rights are violated, and where Georgia's legal system fails to dispense equal justice to all its citizens." says Stephen Bright, Director of SCHR. "The current legislative session presents an opportunity to meet our legal and moral responsibility to be sure that people receive fair trials and that innocent people are not wrongfully convicted."
The report highlights the most common failures of the system, including:
- Despite the constitutional requirement that lawyers be provided, there are no lawyers to represent people in some municipal and state courts. Almost everyone is processed through those courts without a lawyer.
- Many adults and children who cannot afford a lawyer plead guilty - even to felony charges - and are sentenced to probation, prison or jail without the assistance of an attorney.
- In some counties, people languish in jail for weeks or months before meeting with a lawyer, despite the Georgia Supreme Court requirement that lawyers be appointed within 72 hours of arrest and meet promptly with their clients.
- Even after a lawyer has been appointed, many people cannot communicate with their lawyers because the lawyers do not visit the jail, accept telephone calls from their clients, or reply to letters, despite requirements that they consult with their clients and keep them informed of the status of their cases. Many people meet their court-appointed lawyers for the first time in court and are advised minutes later to plead guilty before the lawyer has done any investigation, research or preparation.
- In many counties, attorneys who have little or no interest, skill, or experience in criminal law or trial advocacy routinely represent the poor in criminal cases.
For a complete copy of this and other reports
on indigent defense, please visit www.schr.org/reports/index.htm.
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