Indigent Defense

• Semester: Fall 2019
• Course ID: 279M
• Credit Hours: 2
• Unique: 28110

Description

he rights of a criminal defendant are at the heart of the Bill of Rights, enshrined in the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments.  No single “issue” receives more attention in the Bill of Rights than protections afforded someone before they are incarcerated.  And yet America incarcerates people at a rate higher than most countries in the world.  Course materials will examine how the socio-economic and racial disparities in the population of people incarcerated in America reflects this country’s history of poverty, slavery, and Jim Crow laws and segregation. A public defender stands at this crossroads with her client, and must be prepared to provide zealous representation of her client in this context.

This course will explore both the theoretical and practical elements of indigent criminal defense, exploring questions such as: How do criminal justice theory and practice interact?  What can an individual lawyer do to further her client's interests within this context?  What is the role of the public defender in criminal justice reform?  How does a public defender maintain the long view on mass incarceration and socio-economic and racial inequalities in the criminal justice system while advocating for her individual clients?

Weekly reading assignments will explore these topics, from a variety of perspectives and disciplines, and students will be required to discuss their reflections during class discussions. Students will be provided case studies, where they will be required to analyze and discuss legal and practical strategies for client communications, motions, cross-examinations, and sentencing analysis and mitigation.