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 largest public defense nonprofit in Oregon — Metropolitan Public Defender — has temporarily stopped taking misdemeanor cases, OPB has learned. Nearly 200 cases will need to be redirected to private attorneys, as well as those who have contracts with the state, according to Lane Borg, executive director of the state’s Office of Public Defense Services.“
Oregon Public Broadcasting
June 5, 2019
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