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Public Defender Association of Pennsylvania

Harrisburg, September 12, 2012 (Copyright 2012)

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The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania should

take action to meet its constitutionalobligations of protecting the rights ofindigent persons by providing effectivecounsel in criminal, juvenile, dependency,

and mental health proceedings.

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What to DO?

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Arentthesesupposedto bebalanced?

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The Chief Public Defenders should be fulltime where the District Attorney is full time.

Indigent Defense Attorneys salaries should

be commensurate

Full-time public defenders should not engagein private practice, exceptions are for:

Part-time public defenders. Assigned conflict counsel.

Contract counsel for the indigent.

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Other important stuff

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Pennsylvania DistrictAttorney Association

Pennsylvania PublicDefender Association

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By Spring 2014, dedicated, adequate funding forthe Public Defender Association of PA to support acentral office should be established by . . .

Legislative funding

Grant funding sought jointly with aresearch university

Bake Sales (Just kidding.)

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0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

300000

350000

Pennsylvania District

Attorneys Association

Pennsylvania Public

Defenders Association

$350,000

$35,000

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If we dont do this, who will?

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0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

300000350000

400000

The Pennsylvania

District Attorney

Institute

Pennsylvania Public

DefendersAssociation

$0

$375,000

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Develop a system for collection of resource &case data useful for indigent defense policymakers.Existing Resources.

Case types and numbers.

Caseload/Workload.

Identify resources best supplied at a regional or statewidelevel to achieve economies of scale.

Coordinating & maintaining statewide trainingresources for public defenders

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0

100000

200000

300000

400000

500000

600000

700000

800000

900000

The PennsylvaniaDistrict Attorneys

Institute

Pennsylvania Public

Defenders

Association

$892,150

$43,500

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Caseloads for indigent defense attorneysshould be held to standards consistent withthe provision of quality defense services.Taking into account:

Direct client representation

Administrative responsibilities

Professional development

Continuing legal education requirements

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Before boatloads of money arespent on a new state agency

Let us Prove Our Worth, or at least

let us pave the way withPennsylvania specific data

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Within three years after its establishment thePublic Defender Association of PennsylvaniaCentral Office shall provide a report to thelegislature which will provide detail by countyof . . .

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Customary resources made available by each county to

meet public defender mission requirements.

Comparison to prosecutorial resources in the same

jurisdiction.

Public defender caseload & conflict counsel caseload

Types of cases requiring significant out of the officeresources with identification of what the necessaryresources are for such cases.

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The utility of centrally pooling of scientific orother expert resources.

The efficacy of statewide centralization of

mitigation aspects of death penaltyrepresentation.

Central appellate counsel to conduct appeals

from the trial level courts to the appellate courts.

Recommendations for improvement.

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The Happy Ending . . .

Justice breaks out, freedom reignsand we are all out of jobs.

Prosecutors find new employmentat the car wash.