You are a professor talking to a law student who is reviewing different methods used in the United States by people who wish to receive an attorney. You tell her that there are three primary methods used in the United States to provide indigents with attorneys-the assigned counsel system, the contract system, and the public defender system. The assigned counsel system appoints attorneys from a list of available private attorneys in a given jurisdiction. It is used in half of the counties in the United States, but serves less than one-third of the population. Contract systems, in contrast, involve bidding by private attorneys to represent all indigents during the term of a contract for a fixed price. Contract systems are found in counties with populations of less than 50,000 and where

there is an absolute budgetary limit on defense services for indigent defendants. The third type of system-the public defender system-uses attorneys who are employed by private or by government organizations for the purpose of representing indigent defendants.
You then ask her to think about the reasons each method might be used-what particular situation could be best suited to each method? Why?

What will be an ideal response?


Student responses may vary.

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Most inmates in federal prisons committed:

a. drug offenses. b. property offenses. c. violent offenses. d. public order offenses. e. white collar crimes.

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Geographic information systems (GIS) are in used in approximately ______ of large police departments.

a. 35% b. 49% c. 63% d. 92%

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Leo Lincoln has made a series of bad decisions since losing his job two years ago. In the past two years, he has been arrested three times for various crimes, including drug possession, possession of illegal firearms, and most recently, aggravated assault. He also has spent much of the past two years either in jail or on probation. At his sentencing hearing after his recent conviction for aggravated assault, the judge sentenced Leo to life in prison as a result of laws in the state of California which call for the doubling of the sentences of felons who have two prior convictions for serious crimes. Laws that incarcerate habitual offenders like Leo for lengthy periods of time are based on the premise that:

A. these offenders cannot conform to the laws of society and they should be incarcerated for a long period of time. B. these offenders will be more useful in prison because they can work in a prison job. C. it will cost less to house them in prison than arrest and prosecute them each time they commit a crime. D. they will only change their behavior if they are incarcerated for a long period of time.

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What percentage of incarcerated women and girls is estimated to have experienced physical or sexual abuse?

A. 10% B. 30% C. 50% D. 80%

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