A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who can not afford it. This term is a fake friend of the Spanish-language title defensor del pueblo, referring to the ombudsman, except in that public defender is the English title of the Jamaican ombudsman.
Brazil is the only country in which a government-paid attorney's office, with the special intention of providing legal assistance and representation to the poor, is free of charge, set out in the Constitution. In the United States, a case of the US Supreme Court in 1963 Gideon v. Wainwright ruled that the Sixth Amendment of the Bill of Rights requires the government to provide free legal counsel to defendants who are not able in criminal cases. Many other countries provide people with public defenders.
Video Public defender
By country
In civil law countries, following the model of the French Napoleon Criminal Procedure Code, courts usually appoint private lawyers at the expense of the state.
Brazil
The Brazilian Constitution uniquely provides for the public defender office ( Defensoria PÃÆ'ºblica ) at the state and federal levels. Public defense is the right of the poor, who must state, formally, that they can not afford regular legal assistance, to benefit from the services of public defenders.
Public Defenders, such as Prosecutors and Judges, are accepted in their positions through the civil service examination. The public defender's office helps the poor and the lower middle class in both civil and criminal matters, although the poorest countries in the country are still struggling to set up public defenders' offices.
The public defense in Brazil dates back to 1897, when a decree mandated by government-funded legal aid in the state of Rio de Janeiro, later called Legal Aid (AssistÃÆ'ªncia JurÃÆ'dica ). The 1937 Constitution extended the AssistÃÆ'ªncia JurÃÆ'dica to the whole country, but without the same effectiveness that originated from the present, the 1988 Constitution.
Singapore
Legal assistance in Singapore is provided by the State and Pro Bono Service Offices of the Legal Community.
The state provides legal assistance in a criminal case in which the defendant faces the death penalty. The government also provides legal representation and advice in civil cases such as divorce, child custody, adoption, false dismissal, administrative letters, lease disputes, claims in contracts and tort, through the Legal Aid Bureau of the Ministry of Justice (LAB). Help from LAB is not free, and most clients are asked to contribute to the cost of the work performed, but the amount charged by the client depends on a number of factors, including the client's financial means.
The Law Bureau's Pro Bono Service Office runs the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme, which provides criminal law assistance to the poor and needs those unable to pay lawyers, and faces charges in Singapore court for non-death penalty under the law covered by CLAS.
German
Germany provides legal representation, legal advice, and assistance in covering court costs in civil cases to those who can not raise the necessary funds to hire a lawyer, but only if there is a reasonable chance of success. In a criminal case in which the defendant faces at least one year of imprisonment, the defendant is entitled to a legal attorney. Although there is a right to legal defense, there is no organized public defender system. Instead, any lawyer may be appointed to advise certain defendants, and the defendant may choose a special lawyer. Payment questions are deferred until the end of the trial, and the court will decide the cost of the case to the losing party. The defendant will not be charged for legal services if released. If proven, the defendant will be required to pay the attorneys' fees unless the court finds that the defendant is incapable.
United Kingdom
There is a small number of Office of Public Defenders in England and Wales with lawyers employed directly by the Legal Aid Agency to advise police stations and representatives in courts and supreme courts. The majority of state-funded criminal defense work, however, is provided by private lawyers contracted by the Legal Aid Board and paid for by cases under a legal aid scheme.
In Scotland, a wider network of Public Defenders Attorney Office employed by the Scottish Legal Aid Service is available to represent those charged with crimes in addition to private lawyers paid under a legal aid scheme.
United States
In the United States, the term public defender is often used to describe a lawyer appointed by the court to represent a defendant who is unable to hire a lawyer. More specifically, a public defender is a lawyer working for the public defender's office, a government-funded body that provides legal representation to poor defendants. The court appointed the public defender's office to represent the defendant, and the office assigned a lawyer to the defendant's case. In the federal criminal court system and several states and districts, representatives are made through publicly-funded public defenders' offices.
Other courts may appoint private lawyers who have agreed to represent a poor defendant, by appointment either by contract, through which the lawyer receives a number of cases agreed from the court for the duration of the contract, or case by case basis.
The US Supreme Court case in 1963 Gideon v. Wainwright declares that the Sixth Amendment right for giving advice requires the government to provide legal counsel to defendants who are not able in criminal cases. However, different jurisdictions use different approaches in providing legal counsel for criminal defendants who can not afford private lawyers.
Hungarian
In Hungary, the police, public prosecutors or courts (depending on what each case requires) appoint a criminal defender at the expense of the state to defend those who can not afford a lawyer of choice. The participation of defense lawyers is required by the Criminal Procedure Act. Normally a personal lawyer is appointed, one for each defendant, and a conflict of interest between opposing defendants is avoided, for example the same lawyer may not represent two defendants with conflicting evidence. If proven, the defendant is in principle responsible for costs, but rarely pursued.
Maps Public defender
See also
- Duty advisor
- Task lawyer
- Legal help
- Legal aid in the United States
Note
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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