A recent article by Stephen Schulhofer, Robert B. McKay Professor of Law, has drawn the attention of the Texas Indigent Defense Commission (TIDC), a state agency charged with overseeing and supporting services for indigent criminal defendants. Over the next two years, the TIDC will launch a demonstration project to implement and assess in one Texas county a proposal developed in Schulhofer’s article for a choice-based indigent defense system, so that indigent defendants can help select the defense attorneys who will represent them. Currently, throughout the United States, defense attorneys for the indigent are selected by judges or other county officials, and the indigent defendant has no right to designate a different attorney whom he or she might prefer. The TIDC has asked Professor Schulhofer to serve on the Advisory Committee that will help monitor the implementation and evaluation of the plan.
Posted June 29, 2012
