By Rick Pluta, Michigan Public Radio Network
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-995851.mp3
LANSING, MI –
The state commission charged with the task of ensuring adequate legal representation for criminal defendants with court-appointed lawyers heard hours of testimony Friday at a hearing in Lansing. As we hear from Michigan Public Radio's Rick Pluta, the commission was told taxpayers and, often, children pay the costs of a poor indigent defense system.
The commission has until July to recommend ways to fix a system ranked among the worst in the country. David Carroll is a researcher with the National Legal Aid and Defender Association. He says teenagers are among those likely to make plea deals without ever seeing a lawyer. He says that means they can be punished without getting substance abuse treatment or other help they need.
"You're really asking for continued bad behavior, recidivism and, in fact, an increase, an escalation of that bad behavior that will probably land them in the adult system down the road," he says.
Carroll says states that have low per capita spending on indigent defense are often the same states with the highest incarceration costs. Michigan ranks 47th in the nation in spending on indigent defense. It ranks fourth highest in spending per capita on prisons and corrections.