The Sixth Amendment guarantees specific rights to criminal defendants including a right to counsel and adequate representation. An attorney's performance must be adequate and they have a duty to put in the appropriate time and effort to represent each client.

Following the landmark Supreme Court decision in Gideon v. Wainwright, which guaranteed the Sixth Amendment right to appointed counsel for anyone charged with a felony, the American Bar Association (ABA) established national standards for public defense services. The first edition, Standards for Criminal Justice, Providing Defense Service was put into effect in 1967.

Since then, there have been two more editions of these standards and numerous policies, such as the Eight Guidelines of Public Defense Related to Excessive Workloads established with the goal of ensuring adequate indigent defense. This led to the adoption of Ten Principles of a Public Defense Delivery System (The Principles) in February 2002. The Principles provided clear and concise criteria for an effective public defense delivery system.

The Principles were revised in 2023 to stay current with the changes in how public defenses services are delivered to include issues that can impact service delivery such as:

• Voluminous Digital Discovery

• High Caseloads

• Unduly Low Salaries and Reimbursement Rates

More detailed information from the ABA on The Principles can be found here.

Rules of ethics require that attorneys limit their caseloads to a level that ensures they are providing each client's Sixth Amendment right to adequate representation. When caseloads are too high, attorneys cannot feasibly provide adequate defense and give each client the time and and attention they deserve.

Findings from the National Public Defense Workload Study published by RAND demonstrate that attorneys are unfairly being held to the same caseload standards of a public defense system that existed 50 years ago. This research also shows that public defenders are being forced to manage heavy caseloads which directly impacts and compromises their ethical duty to competent representation and their client's Sixth Amendment rights.

The Public Defender of Marion County (PDMC) recognizes that an indigent defense crisis exists across the nation and within the state of Oregon. PDMC is committed to fiercely advocating for the rights of the clients served. PDMC is actively working to ensure the following:

• Adequate defense

• Client-centered representation

• Eradicating systemic inequities

PDMC's commitment has been recognized nationally. Learn more here.

The issues that clients face vary from case to case. However, some clients may be experiencing employment related issues, unaddressed mental health diagnoses, houselessness and housing instability, food insecurity, substance dependency, immigration or transportation related issues. For many clients, access to resources that address these issues can make a huge impact on their circumstances and decrease their likelihood of future contact with the criminal justice system.

Ensuring that public defenders are given appropriate caseloads provide them the ability to spend time with each client to understand their case but also their needs, connect them to the appropriate resources and provide adequate representation.

Community members interested in advocating for legislative changes to support adequate defense are encouraged to contact local and state lawmakers and advocacy groups such as the ACLU of Oregon.

For those interested in supporting PDMC’s implementation of a client-centered approach to representation can provide support in the form of monetary donations, donations of time and talent as volunteers, or donations of resources, such as clothing for job interviews, and supplies, such as non-perishable food and toiletries.

For more information please contact support@pdmarion.org