Over the past ten years, the adoption of standards and guidelines has been one of the most notable developments in the delivery of indigent defense services. Standards and guidelines addressing attorney eligibility, caseloads, conflict of interest, indigency screening, attorney performance and administration of indigent defense systems have been adopted by state and local legislation; state supreme court rule; national, state and local public defender organizations, indigent defense commissions and other entities.
At this website, NACDL is collecting examples of standards and guidelines, as well as an extensive Index listing and describing dozens more -- and who you can contact for hard copies.
Jurisdictions that have adopted standards and guidelines are urged to send them by e-mail to psp@nacdl.com (or on a computer disk to the address below) so we can post them at this site.
INDEX: On behalf of the American Bar Association Bar Information Program, The Spangenberg Group has collected national, state and local standards and guidelines relating to the administration of defense services from 40 of the 50 states. The resulting Indigent Defense Standards and Guidelines Index is organized into nine categories: Systems Administration Policies; Attorney Eligibility and Qualifications - Capital, Non-Capital and Post-Conviction; Caseload Standards; Caseload/Workload Standards - Appeals; Conflicts of Interest; Indigency Screening; and Attorney Performance Standards.--Click Here to Download-- (Updated June 1998) (Provided in WordPerfect format)
NEW YORK: General Requirements for All Organized Providers of Defense Services to Indigent Defendants were promulgated by the Indigent Defense Organization Oversight Committee and were approved by the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division, First Judicial Department (counties of Bronx and New York) on June 19, 1996 -- and amended in June, 1997. These General Requirements provide the standards and guidelines according to which the Oversight Committee plans to carry out its mandate to monitor and report on the performance and professional conduct of organizations assigned to represent indigent parties in criminal proceedings in the First Department and the lawyers in the employ of such organizations.--Click Here to Download-- (Provided in WordPerfect format)
OREGON: Approved by the Oregon State Bar Board of Governors September 25, 1996, the Principles and Standards for Counsel in Criminal, Delinquency, Dependency and Civil Commitment Cases are meant to apply to all counsel, appointed or retained. Detailed and annotated, these Principles and Standards build upon a number of national and state standards which are intended to establish a framework for improvement of lawyer practice in general and in the specific types of cases they address. They assert the importance of quality representation by competent and diligent lawyers.--Click Here to Download-- (Provided in PDF format-Requires shareware software called Adobe Acrobat Reader)--Click Here for Adobe Homepage--
NLADA Performance Guidelines for Criminal Defense Representation
Review and download NLADA's guide to the duties of defenders at every stage of a criminal proceeding. (Black-letter standards only, does not include extensive commentary, citations to related standards, and detailed footnotes.)
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL)