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Saving Missouri's Public Defender System: A Call For Adequate Legislative Funding, Justine Finney Guyer

Missouri Law Review

The Constitutions of both the United States and the state of Missouri guarantee an indigent defendant the right to effective legal counsel when the defendant's freedom is in jeopardy. Due to a caseload crisis that is compounded by many other factors, the Office of the Missouri Public Defender cannot serve all the indigent clients who depend on it. The most notable of the issues plaguing the public defender system is that of funding. As a result of a severely underfunded system, public defenders are without resources necessary to effectively represent all of their clients. In order to improve client services …