Defendants on the lower end of the socio-economic scale find themselves at the mercy of public defenders who are swamped with cases, understaffed, and underfunded. Research shows that even before mass incarceration accelerated in the 1980s, overburdened systems of indigent defense struggled to meet the 6th Amendment constitutional mandate. Public defenders usually have the deck stacked against them due to discovery laws favoring prosecutors and lack of sufficient resources.
"The chronically underfunded Missouri public defender system has been straining to keep up with growing caseloads. The Missouri Supreme Court’s decision last year to suspend a veteran public defender who had been handling a large caseload and was hospitalized due to chronic health problems only exacerbated the problem."
KCUR Kansas City
June 27, 2018
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