Indigent Criminal Defendants

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1. Explain the three ways that are used to provide lawyers for indigent criminal defendants and describe the primary advantages and disadvantages of each method. 1. Assigned Counsel • Assigned Counsels are people who are either private attorneys from a list or those who volunteer. The primary advantages of this method are that you get a lot of people who want to volunteer and therefore would possibly not charge as much. The disadvantages of this method are that some of the counselors are not very skilled in the field and does not have the proper knowledge to win a case. They may have a lot of knowledge in being a real estate attorney or probate attorney but would not be very helpful when it comes to a criminal trial. 2. Contract System • This involved private attorneys that bid to represent defendants who are found indigent. One of the primary advantages is the government does not have to pay as much. Under this system they limit the cost that they would usually have to pay. One of the disadvantages it…show more content…
The book states that from the time they first appear in front of a judge until their first appeal, the defendants have a right to counsel. The Supreme Court has admitted the critical stages test which determines when and when not they have the right to counsel. Defendants have the right to counsel during any adversarial proceedings, when they are being questioned, when they are discussing a plea deal, and many others. There are some stages where the right to counsel is limited. During the pretrial stage, being detained by the police does not actually give them the right to counsel. In the Supreme Court, when dealing with appeals, defendants have no right to a court appointed counsel (Ross v. Moffitt, 1974). One of the issues that may be an issue is death penalty cases that are undergoing the Supreme Court. Under Ross most defendants have to rely on voluntary
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