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Federal Justice Grants Favor Prosecution, Law Enforcement Over Indigent Defense
Loaded on Nov. 15, 2013
published in Prison Legal News
November, 2013, page 26
A report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has confirmed what many criminal defendants too poor to afford an attorney have long suspected: While hundreds of millions in federal tax dollars go to support prosecutors, law enforcement and prisons each year, public defenders are left out in the cold.
Filed under:
Criminal Prosecution,
Statistics/Trends,
Attorneys,
Appointment of Counsel,
Public Defenders,
Prosecutors.
Location:
United States of America.
Citing …
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More from this issue:
- The Too-Many Prisoners Dilemma, by Dan Froomkin
- From the Editor, by Paul Wright
- Texas Judges Rarely Disciplined, Seldom Publicly, by Matthew Clarke
- Habeas Hints: Staring Down the Two-Headed Monster: Richter-Pinholster, by Kent A. Russell
- The Real Costs of Incarceration in the United States
- Attorney Fees Not Exempt from Disclosure Under California Public Records Act
- PLN Files Censorship Suit Against Nevada DOC
- Traumatic Brain Injury Rate High Among Prisoners, by Matthew Clarke
- Debtors' Prisons Returning to America, by David Reutter
- Hell on Earth: Sexual Victimization of the Criminally Insane, by David Rosen
- China Vows to Finance Incarceration with Public Funds, Not Prison Profits
- Oregon Considers Subsidizing Prison Medical Costs Through Medicaid
- PLN Challenges Postcard-only Policy at Tennessee Jail
- Federal Justice Grants Favor Prosecution, Law Enforcement Over Indigent Defense
- Texas Prison Population Drops but Savings Evaporate, by Matthew Clarke
- Federal Prisoners Paid During Government Shutdown, but Not Prison Guards, by Derek Gilna
- Minnesota Judge Condemns System that Jails Mentally Ill
- GEO Group Pulls out of Mississippi Prisons, by David Reutter
- Gun Found in Segregation Cell at Privately-operated Mississippi Prison
- New York City Jail Chaplain Fined for Accepting Bribe, Pleads Guilty to Fraud Charges
- New Exonerations Registry Catalogs Over 2,400 Wrongful Convictions
- New Hampshire Supreme Court Revives Prisoner's Negligence Action
- Prisoners in Texas Jail Providing Less Slave Labor
- Book Review: Against Their Will: The Secret History of Medical Experimentation on Children in Cold War America, by Christopher Zoukis
- Second Circuit: Bankruptcy Automatic Stay is No Excuse for Non-payment of Restitution, by Derek Gilna
- Third Circuit Reverses More Stringent Conditions of Supervised Release, by Derek Gilna
- Best Criminal Defense Pleading Ever!, by Alex Friedmann
- Connecticut Supreme Court Reverses FOIA Disclosure of NCIC Printout
- California: No-Gang-Contact Probation Condition Struck Down
- Ninth Circuit: Adam Walsh Detention Doesn’t Toll Term of Supervised Release, by Derek Gilna
- Four West Virginia Officials, including Circuit Court Judge, Face Federal Charges, by Christopher Zoukis
- U.S. Department of Justice Reports Statistics on State Prosecutors, by Matthew Clarke
- Eighth Circuit Upholds North Dakota Transient’s Failure-to-Register Conviction
- California: Enhanced Presentence Conduct Credits Not Available to Defendants Who Committed Crimes Before Statute’s Effective Date
- California: State Not Liable for Failure to Provide Needed Treatment so Long as Medical Care is Summoned
- Philippines Prison Suspends Thriller Dancers
- ICE Directive May Limit Solitary Confinement of Immigrant Detainees, by Derek Gilna
- Denial of Contraceptive Pill to Prisoner States Cause of Action
- Montana Jail Fresh Air/Exercise Lawsuit Certified as Class Action, Then Settles
- Anonymous PREA Hotlines Not So Anonymous
- D.C. Circuit Clears Terrorism Suspect after 11-Year Ordeal, by Derek Gilna
- Audit Reveals Federal Prison Industries Faces Declining Revenue, Job Losses, by Derek Gilna
- Fifth Circuit: No Right to RDAP for Non-citizen Federal Prisoner
- Prison Sentence Imposed for Sole Purpose of Drug Treatment Vacated by Eighth Circuit, by Derek Gilna
- Court Baffled by BOP's Steel-toe Boot Requirement for Prisoners, by Derek Gilna
- News in Brief
More from these topics:
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- Maryland Supreme Court Announces Public Defender Act Requires Effective Assistance of Counsel in Certiorari Petition Where Public Defender Appointed Panel Attorney for Direct Appeal and Certiorari Petition, Dec. 15, 2025. Public Defenders, Indigent Defense, Ineffective Assistance of Counsel, Statutory Construction/Interpretation, Strickland Standard.
- Washington Prisoners Gain Access to Crisis Hotline, Nov. 1, 2025. Statistics/Trends, Failure to Protect (General), Suicides, Deliberate Indifference, Compassionate Release.
- FCC Issues Proposed Rule Permitting Cellphone Jammers in Prisons and Jails, Nov. 1, 2025. Statistics/Trends, Telephone Rates, Cell Phone Access, Federal Legislation, Police State-Surveillance.
- New York City Loses Bid to Withhold Jail Records, July 15, 2025. Attorneys, Public Records Act.
- Rhode Island Supreme Court Announces Indigent First-Time Applicant for Postconviction Relief Entitled to Counsel Even When Not Requested; Superior Court Must Determine Whether Applicant Intended to Waive Right to Counsel and Whether Done Knowingly, Vol, May 15, 2025. Appointment of Counsel, Counsel - Right to, Counsel - Constructive denial of.
- Crime Down But Incarceration Up In Tennessee, March 1, 2025. Crime, Statistics/Trends.
- Among World Nations, Individual U.S. States Near Top of List for Per Capita Incarceration, Feb. 15, 2025. Statistics/Trends, Prisoners-International, Effects of Mass Incarceration.
- Examining Pro-Prosecution Bias in the Judiciary: Unconscious Biases of a Prosecutorial Background, Feb. 15, 2025. Criminal Prosecution, Juror Bias, Impartial Jury.
- Hawai’i Supreme Court Reverses Murder Conviction for Prosecutorial Misconduct Based on Prosecution’s Improper Statements During Closing Arguments, Feb. 15, 2025. Prosecutors, Wrongful Conviction, Prior Convictions - Expungement or Reversal of, Improper Comment.

