Public Defense Informer is an online publication focusing on the indigent defense system in New York City.
There are three organizations which provide court-appointed counsel to indigent defendants in New York City: the Legal Aid Society, the various Defenders agencies (including Bronx Defenders and Brooklyn Defender Services), and the Assigned Counsel Plan.
PDI currently has one writer and editor: Frank DiFiore. He has worked as a journalist for four years in Northern New York, covering criminal justice and county government.
He is currently pursuing a master's degree in Social Journalism at the City University of New York Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism.
My father has worked as a member of the Assigned Counsel Plan for decades; I grew up studying his work and learning about the criminal justice system in New York City.
When I moved to Northern New York, I learned much about the Public Defender's Office in Franklin County -- including the difficulties the county worked through in staffing its office while surrounding counties offered higher salaries.
When I started the Social Journalism program at CUNY Newmark, I decided that my focus community for my studies would be the count-appointed counsel in New York City and the clients they work on behalf of. Public Defense Informer grew out of my interviews with working court-appointed attorneys and academic experts in the field.
The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees that anyone accused of a crime has the right to have "the Assistance of Counsel for (their) defence." Since the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) , U.S. courts have held that if a defendant cannot afford their own counsel, the court must provide counsel to the defendant.
This ensures that even the most vulnerable and marginalized members of our society are afforded some protection of their legal rights. Without it, only wealthy and connected persons would have comparable legal representation to trained and funded prosecutors.