The fight for indigent defense reform in Pennsylvania
The Sixth Amendment guarantees every person accused of a crime the right to an attorney for his or her defense, regardless of ability to pay. Yet all too often, these rights are violated by indigent defense systems that leave low-income people, including many people of color, without adequate representation. Pennsylvania is consistently ranked at the bottom for indigent defense, and it is the only state in the nation that provides no state funding to public defenders' offices. As a result, each year, tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians who can't afford to pay for a lawyer are left without effective defense counsel every year.
This failure isn't just immoral, it's unconstitutional.
That's why the ACLU of Pennsylvania filed a 2024 lawsuit, Warren, et al. v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, et al. in 2024 that asks the courts to find that Pennsylvania’s reliance on county funding for public defenders is a violation of the Pennsylvania and United States Constitutions and to take oversight over the state’s plan to fix these constitutional violations.
We are also asking ACLU of Pennsylvania members to contact their state legislators and demand that lawmakers work to fully fund Pennsylvania's public defenders and conflict counsel through legislation.
Want to learn more about our lawsuit? Check out these frequently asked questions.
Your constitutional right to legal counsel
You have the right to remain silent. You have to right to an attorney...If you cannot afford one, one will be provided for you at no cost to you..."
We all know this refrain, echoed time and time again by cops on TV and cops on our neighborhood streets. But is this promise actually fulfilled for those who cannot afford to hire a lawyer?
Fifty years ago, a courageous man named Clarence Gideon, impoverished and forced to represent himself in court for a crime he didn't commit, won a major legal victory and changed the American justice system forever. In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court found in Gideon v. Wainwright that all individuals have the right to legal representation, even those who cannot afford it, when their freedom is at risk.
Sadly, a half century later, the promise of Gideon remains only a mirage in much of the country, but especially in Pennsylvania, which has one of the worst indigent systems in the nation. Put simply, the commonwealth has utterly failed to meet its constitutional obligation. One of only two states that provide neither state funding nor state supervision for indigent defense, Pennsylvania instead shifts the burden entirely to the counties, which set their own public defender budgets. Philadelphia, which has the best public defender office in the state, spends roughly nine times the amount on indigent defense that Columbia County spends per capita. As a result, access to justice varies wildly across the state.
The biggest problem is inadequate funding. Too little money means too few staff and resources, which translates into each lawyer representing too many people. Consequently, most public defenders struggle with workloads that far exceed limits set by the American Bar Association and other professional organizations. Most public defenders also lack adequate training and crucial support staff, such as investigators and social workers. Even the most polished advocate could not do an adequate job without these necessary resources.
