Tuscaloosa News
June 17, 2008
EDITORIAL
Alabama's unequal treatment of poor defendants is one of the unconscionable aspects of a legal system beset by many problems. Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb's efforts to improve it deserve the support of the Legislature and the public.
There is no state oversight of the quality or effectiveness of legal counsel for indigents. There are no uniform standards, guidelines or training requirements for those attorneys. As a result, the system of indigent representation is fragmented and the quality varies widely.
Most of the state's 41 judicial circuits use an appointed counsel system in which private attorneys who put their names on an appointments list are asked periodically to represent indigent clients at an hourly rate. A smaller number of circuits use a contract system in which private attorneys are hired at a set dollar amount each month to handle all indigent cases. And a few circuits, like ours in Tuscaloosa County, have a full-time public defender office or a part-time public defender.
Costs of indigent defense in Alabama have risen rapidly. In fiscal 1998, it was around $17 million. This year, taxpayers will face a bill of some $70 million. There has not been a corresponding increase in cases, however. There were 49,022 indigent cases in 1998; this year, the total is expected to fall a bit short of 83,169.
Cobb proposes legislation in 2009 to establish a state Office of Indigent Defense Services, to be overseen by an Alabama Indigent Defense Commission. She believes the office will bring uniformity to the system while help reining in costs.
Costs are a consideration, particularly in a state where court revenues are inadequate. Cobb's proposal would eliminate per-hour indigent defense fees of $40 for out-of-court services and $60 for in-court time, along with office overhead allowances. It would replace those payments with a flat $85-an-hour fee, with more for capital cases.
Defense attorneys have sparred in the past with the state on overhead expenses. The $85 could be a sticking point when the proposal is introduced.
The main concern, however, is ensuring that indigent defendants have access to adequate legal representation. That hasn't always been the case in Alabama. Cobb's legislation won't be an automatic panacea but its standards and guidelines for training and quality will help.
As state Rep. Marcel Black, D-Tuscumbia, points out, our criminal justice system cannot operate one way for people who can afford an attorney and another for people who can't.
An agreement on a practical way to offer uniformity should be a priority for the chief justice and the Legislature. We hope any agreement they reach also will ensure that criminals in capital cases are guaranteed representation all the way through the legal process. The lack of that guarantee is a gaping hole in the way the state administers the death penalty.