May 5, 2016: NYS Bar Association Urges Legislature and Governor to Fund Indigent Criminal Defense Services

May 5, 2016: NYS Bar Association Urges Legislature and Governor to Fund Indigent Criminal Defense Services

5.5.2016

By Communications Department

Overhauling New York’s criminal defense system for the poor should be a top priority for state lawmakers and Governor Andrew Cuomo during the current legislative session, New York  State Bar Association President David P. Miranda said today.

“Criminal justice reform in New York must begin with ensuring that everyone accused of a crime, regardless of income, has an attorney, as required by the U.S. Constitution,” he said. “Despite improvement in some geographic areas, our indigent criminal defense system still relies on overworked and underfunded defense attorneys.”

“The State Bar Association strongly supports legislation to require full state funding for—and oversight of—indigent criminal defense services,” said Miranda. He praised Senator John DeFrancisco (R-Onondaga County) and Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy (D-Albany County) for introducing similar bills to achieve those goals.

On May 4, the Assembly Codes Committee approved Fahey’s bill (A.6202-C).

Earlier in the week, DeFrancisco said enactment of the bill (S.6341-A), which would provide fiscal relief to county governments, is one of his priorities for the 2016 session.

“We are pleased that Senator DeFrancisco and Assemblywoman Fahy continue to push for this critical legislation,” Miranda said.

At a joint press conference earlier this year, DeFrancisco and Fahy were joined by other lawmakers, Miranda and officials of the state Association of Counties, who all support state financing of indigent criminal services.

In 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Gideon v. Wainwright that states must provide legal representation to criminal defendants who cannot afford to hire a lawyer. Instead of assuming the cost itself, New York has required counties—big and small, urban and rural—to bear most of the expense.

The 74,000-member New York State Bar Association is the largest voluntary bar association in the nation. It was founded in 1876.

Contact: Lise Bang-Jensen

Director, Media Services and Public Affairs

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