State Bar of Texas Legal Services to the Poor in Criminal Matters Committee

Attorney General Janet Reno's Remarks

On Febrary 25, 1999 Attorney General Janet Reno delivered the following addres to the National Symposium on Indigent Defense at the Mayflower Hotel, Washington, D.C. 

Thursday, February 25, 1999

    I am delighted to be with you today at this historic symposium. Never before in the history of the Department of Justice has there been a meeting like this one. The Department of Justice has brought together representatives from all levels of government and from every part of the criminal justice system, to explore how we can better collaborate to strengthen indigent defense services and, by extension, the criminal justice system as a whole. I applaud the efforts of Laurie Robinson, Nancy Gist, and everyone in the Office of Justice Programs and the Bureau of Justice Assistance, who have worked extremely hard to bring this extraordinary group together for this important meeting.

    I also want to thank Bennett Brummer and Judge Wetherington for joining us and for their thoughtful remarks. Sitting up here with them, I am reminded of our work together in Miami. As I listened to Bennett and Judge Wetherington speak about the collaboration between prosecutors and defenders that has been developed in Dade County, I recalled the "good old days" when I was part of that collaboration.

    My experiences as a prosecutor and as Attorney General have taught me just how important it is for every leg of the criminal justice system to stand strong. All of us here recognize that the defense is an equally essential element of the criminal justice process, one which should be appropriately structured and funded, and operating with effective standards. The reality is that despite the Supreme Court's decision 36 years ago in Gideon v. Wainwright that every defendant, rich or poor, has the right to be represented by a lawyer when charged with a serious crime, our system of indigent defense needs to be improved. But it is not just poor defendants who have a stake in our system of indigent defense. Just ask a prosecutor, an arresting officer, or even a victim of crime: would they rather face a vigorous defense at trial or risk an overturned conviction and retrial? When the conviction of a defendant is challenged on the basis of inadequate representation, the very legitimacy of the conviction itself is called into question. Our criminal justice system is interdependent: if one leg of the system is weaker than others, the whole system will ultimately falter.

    You heard about the collaboration that has taken place in Florida to strengthen indigent defense services there, and I can tell you from firsthand experience - these two individuals deserve a lot of the credit. But don't think for a minute though that our collaborative efforts in Miami made us any less committed to doing our jobs as advocates. I think I have gotten more angry at Bennett Brummer than almost anybody I know. He has made me frustrated, but I have been blessed and spoiled by the excellence and zeal of the public defenders in his office. The quality of indigent defense services in Miami made us better prosecutors and advanced all of us in our pursuit of justice.

    Over the years, I have come to appreciate how good we had it in Miami. I believe - more strongly than ever - that all of us - regardless of our position in the criminal justice system - have the responsibility to work to improve the quality of criminal defense for the poor. The bottom line is that our system of justice will only work, and will only inspire complete confidence and trust of the people, if we have strong prosecutors, an impartial judiciary, and a strong system of indigent criminal defense.

    I firmly believe that the Department, as the nation's leading federal law enforcement agency, is uniquely positioned to call needed attention to indigent defense issues and play an important role in strengthening indigent defense. Let me now tell you what the Department of Justice has been doing to support improvements in indigent defense and foster collaboration among all parts of the criminal justice system.

    We have been doing this by committing our resources and using our influence to promote adequate and efficient indigent defense systems. Let me tell you how.

    The Office of Justice Programs, the sponsor of this symposium, and the Office of Policy Development in the Department, have developed a comprehensive plan for the Department's work on indigent defense that is built of six building blocks. I want to tell you about each element and give you a specific example or two of what we're doing to further our strategy.

    First, our strategy starts with the need for an understanding of the scope and nature of the most important problems facing indigent defense. I have been engaged in an ongoing dialogue with the leadership of national defender organizations to get their perspective on what issues and problems should be addressed. At our meetings, we have had wide-ranging, open discussions of the issues, including the need for reasonable rates of compensation for public defenders and assigned counsel, increased access to technology by indigent defense lawyers, more opportunities for professional training, and workable standards for indigent defense.

    Also, for the first time since 1983, the Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics is collecting comprehensive, nationwide data on indigent defense systems so that we can have current information about how different jurisdictions operate and identify models that work.

    Second, we have made a commitment to educating the public and the criminal justice community about the importance of a strong system of indigent defense. I firmly believe that as the nation's top law enforcement agency, we have a responsibility to explain that strong systems of indigent defense are good for prosecutors, police, victims, the public, and justice.

    To further this goal, I have taken the opportunity to encourage governors, chief justices, bar association presidents, and others, to use their positions of leadership to play a role in improving indigent defense services. And just last week, the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, Jim Robinson, spoke about indigent defense issues at the annual meeting of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. When Department of Justice officials speak about the importance of indigent defense, it sends an important message that every part of the criminal justice system should be concerned about indigent defense.

    Third, the Department has supported efforts to increase funding for indigent criminal defense. Disparities in resources among different parts of the criminal justice system have had a corrosive effect on the ability of poor defendants to secure effective representation.

    At the federal level, we have called on the Congress to provide the funds necessary to enable CJA attorneys to earn the $75 per hour rate that they are authorized to receive.

    We have also urged State Byrne Program Administrators to include defenders on their policy boards and consider the needs of indigent defense in their planning and funding decisions. Wherever it's appropriate, we identify defenders as eligible applicants in grant announcement. Consequently, under the open solicitation issued by the Bureau of Justice Assistance in 1998, the public defender in Vermont received a $150,000 grant so that developmentally disabled defendants could be evaluated by medical specialists to determine when necessary accommodations should be made consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act to ensure that everyone gets treated fairly by the criminal justice system.

    At the same time that we have supported increased funding for indigent defense, we also have been working with the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, States, and localities, to appropriately contain the costs of these services. Every part of the criminal justice system - indigent defense included - must work to deliver quality services at a reasonable cost. Even though indigent defense services are the least well-funded part of the system, there are ways, such as sharing technology and pooling resources, to make the system operate more efficiently and effectively. By doing so, we'll be better able to make the case for increased funding.

    Fourth, I strongly believe that prosecutors and defenders not only can work together to improve the system, they can also learn together through joint training. My prosecutors in Miami told me time and again that some of their best training experiences were at the University of Florida, where they trained together with public defenders. That's why the Department is actively exploring possibilities for joint training programs for federal prosecutors and defenders.

    We have also made grants to provide training and technical assistance to state and local indigent defense service providers. For example, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is establishing a Juvenile Defender Center to provide resources, training, and technical assistance to juvenile defenders. And the Bureau of Justice Assistance awarded grants to the Vera Institute to train senior managers of indigent defense services, and to the National Legal Aid and Defender Association to provide technical assistance and training to state and local defenders.

    Fifth, the Department is working to assure that we bring the tools of technology to every part of the criminal justice system. Technology creates incredible opportunities for accessing and exchanging information, managing cases, investigating crimes, and improving the efficiency and quality of our work.

    To that end, the Bureau of Justice Assistance will shortly announce a series of awards to support indigent defense training and case management, with an eye to emerging technological and evidentiary aids.

    Last but not least, the sixth building block in our comprehensive plan for indigent defense focuses on improving the quality of indigent defense by encouraging the development and dissemination of minimum standards and best practices. I believe this effort is essential if our nation is to fulfill our obligation under Gideon to provide every criminal defendant charged with a serious crime with competent counsel. With a lot of input from the defense bar, we are in the process of developing links to the Office of Justice Programs web site - which will be accessible through the Department's web site at www.usdoj.gov - to enable all who are interested to download "best practices documents" and other useful materials.

    Also, we are collecting information on standards for indigent defense programs and representation from around the country. An advisory board of practitioners will review these standards, and the Bureau of Justice Assistance will publish a compendium of those standards that represent the best in criminal defense practice today.

    Let me also suggest that we should try to see just how well best practices work by identifying a local jurisdiction in which leaders in the court system, the bar, and the local government commit to becoming a model jurisdiction for indigent defense by adopting best practices and minimum standards. I encourage each of you to consider whether you know of a jurisdiction that might lend itself to becoming a model for the rest of the country.

    Finally, I would like to go back to where I began and touch again on the important work taking place at this symposium to improve our indigent defense systems through collaboration. Collaboration is the motor that drives the engine of progress on indigent defense, and there are many powerful models of that motor represented here today, such as:

* Fulton County, Georgia's effort to improve indigent defense by bringing together every player in the system to develop a criminal justice plan;

* Nebraska's statewide study of indigent defense by a broad-based task force including representatives from all three branches of state government, and leading prosecutors, defenders, academics, and county officials;

* Florida and Arizona's efforts to "Fill-the-Gap" in funding so that the adjudicatory phase of the process is as well funded as the enforcement and corrections phases; and

* Delaware's project to create a statewide computer system to link all components of the criminal justice system, including indigent defense.

These examples, and many others, should inspire us to do more.

    While we at the Department of Justice have been working of late to improve indigent defense, those of you here in this room - and your colleagues around the country - are the real heroes and heroines on this issue over so many years and decades. And I commit to building our partnership with you. Our efforts at the Department depend on every other part of the criminal justice system, at every level of government, working together to provide full luster and sound to Gideon's trumpet.

    Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be with you today. I look forward to working with you, and I welcome your questions or comments.

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