Bill > S1102

This bill aims to improve access to justice and protect constitutional rights to legal representation by establishing a comprehensive grant program for public defense. The bill creates two primary types of grants: data grants and hiring grants, which will help states, local governments, and Tribal organizations collect detailed information about public defender workloads and potentially hire additional attorneys. Under the data grants, eligible entities will collect extensive information about attorneys' work, including hours spent on different tasks, case types, client demographics, and case resolutions. Hiring grants can be used to hire additional public defenders, increase compensation to match prosecutor salaries, hire support staff like investigators and paralegals, or establish loan assistance programs for public defenders. The bill also mandates two key studies: one on caseload limits to ensure effective legal representation and another on public defender compensation. Additionally, the bill provides incentives for states to collect and submit data about criminal cases, potentially offering a 5% funding increase for participation. A separate educational grant program will fund comprehensive training for public defenders, covering skills development, client-centered values, implicit bias training, and leadership development. The overall goal is to strengthen the quality of legal representation for individuals who cannot afford private attorneys, particularly focusing on constitutional rights established in landmark Supreme Court cases like Gideon v. Wainwright and In re Gault.

Justice

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1102/all-info