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The Criminal Justice Act
by Celeste Fiore
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Overview
The Criminal Justice Act
The Criminal Justice Act (18 U.S.C. §3006A) is a federal law that requires each district court to design a plan so that defendants facing criminal charges have adequate attorney representation. This law created the public defender organizations that provide attorneys free of charge.
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History
Prior to the Criminal Justice Act (CJA), the federal courts had no authority to compensate attorneys who represented indigent or poor criminal clients for free. The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to counsel in serious criminal cases. But defendants had to rely on lawyers who volunteered or were appointed without pay. The CJA was passed in 1964 but paid appointed attorneys significantly less than their normal rates.
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Federal Defenders
In 1970 the CJA was amended to create federal defender organizations. Federal defenders are employees of the federal government and they work only for the defender association. They are independent from the courts, although the chief federal defenders are appointed by the court of appeals in their districts. Federal defenders work only in their federal district courts defending clients against federal charges.
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Community Defenders
The CJA provides a grant to community defender organizations to pay for their operating costs. Community defender organizations are organized under state laws and their employees are NOT federal employees. The organizations may be part of a larger legal services organization within the state. Community defenders are often known as "public defenders."
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Panel Attorneys
Panel attorneys are private attorneys paid by CJA funds to take cases that the federal defenders are prohibited from taking due to conflicts of interest. These attorneys are paid a fixed dollar amount per hour which can be increased only at the discretion of the presiding judge and in limited circumstances.
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Problems
There is dispute over whether a defendant is more successful with a panel attorney or a federal defender. In a study presented to the National Bureau of Economic Research, data collected between 1997 and 2001 show that defendants represented by panel attorneys received sentences averaging eight months longer. Although this study is not conclusive or exhaustive, it casts doubt on whether panel attorneys and defenders are in fact equal.
Inadequate funding and excessive caseloads are also problems, for community defender organizations in particular.
Indigent Person
