Examination of a Criminal Justice Agency
In 1963, the United States Supreme Court held in the case of Gideon v. Wainwright (372 U.S. 335) that every defendant charged with a felony is entitled to the assistance of counsel even if he or she cannot afford to pay a private attorney (Levinson 147). The eventual response to Gideon was the creation of public defender offices in all judicial districts across the country. This paper examines the organization of the Office of the Public Defender for the 15th Judicial Circuit in Palm Beach County, Florida. The information for this examination was gathered from the Palm Beach Public Defender's Web site and an interview with a former Palm Beach County Assistant Public Defender.
The State of Florida established the Office of Public Defender (OPD) in 1963 in response to the Supreme Court's decision in Gideon. The purpose behind Public Defender offices across the country, and in Florida in particular, is to create a more equitable system of justice throughout the nation by providing the opportunity for equal representation of the poor in criminal cases ("Formation, OPD" online). Florida itself is divided into twenty judicial circuits and Palm Beach County makes up the 15th Circuit.
The responsibilities of the Palm Beach OPD are significant and numerous. The OPD is responsible for handling all criminal cases in Palm Beach county where a judge determines that the accused cannot afford to pay for a private lawyer. This includes all criminal cases, juvenile cases, and cases in which the state is attempting to commit someone to a mental health, drug rehabilitation, or sex-offender treatment program against their will. The Palm Beach OPD is also responsible for appealing criminal convictions that occurred not only in Palm Beach County, but also those from Broward County (17th Judicial Circuit) and Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin and Okeechobee Counties (19th Judicial Circuit) ("Formation...