Justice - You Get What You Pay For

Today's USA Today has a really depressing cover story about the general inadequacy of indigent criminal defense in this country. As a current federal PD and former state PD, part of me wants to get indignant and pissed off at the characterization of us as incompetent disasters who are barely worthy of bar membership. But, on the other hand, I know that the lack of resources cited in the article does impede our ability to zealously represent our clients. I've have worked (and work now) with lots of very dedicated lawyers who work as PDs because they believe in what they are doing. But it's hard to do the job that needs to be done when you have to justify spending every penny to somebody else higher up the food chain.