Private Bar Monitors Public Defense: Oversight Committee Sets Standards for Indigent Defense Providers

Abstract

The oversight committee drafted standards and guidelines with the primary goal of creating a yardstick for defense services organizations against which to measure performance and the hope that a practical set of standards serve multiple purposes, including: educating a skeptical public about what it takes to provide quality defense services; promoting an understanding of why adequate funding is necessary (to engender public support for more spending); and providing notice to the organizations themselves of what is expected of a publicly funded defense office.