The Need For Public Defenders Is Getting Pretty Dire

The Sixth Amendment is weeping.

By Kathryn Rubino on January 24, 2022

Ed. Note: Welcome to our daily feature Trivia Question of the Day!

According to a recent study by the ABA Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defense and consulting firm Moss Adams, how many more full-time attorneys does the Law Offices of the Public Defender of the State of New Mexico need to hire to meet the standard of reasonably effective assistance of counsel guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment?

Hint: Similar studies reveal the issue is bigger that just New Mexico. ABA President Reginald Turner said, “Once again, our study of a state public defender system demonstrates that public defenders are daily put in grave jeopardy of violating their professional responsibility to provide competent counsel. This time it is in New Mexico.”