Abstract
Abstract: The Sixth Amendment provides numerous rights, one of the most important being the right to counsel. The right to an attorney is crucial because it attaches at adversarial hearings such as interrogations, arraignments, and other serious matters as an individual weaves throughout the obstacles of the criminal justice system. An important distinction in that right to counsel as the admonishments are delivered is that not only does an individual have the right to counsel, often meaning one can be retained, but if an individual cannot afford to hire a private attorney, one will be appointed to them. As times are continuously changing, the indigence crisis in the State of Texas is still an issue, primarily in rural areas. While rural areas tend to be significantly smaller, crimes nonetheless occur. Many of these rural counties in Texas have district judges that cover multiple counties, share jails, district attorneys, and resources to hold and prosecute individuals— but what is lacking is defense attorneys. With the number of attorneys practicing criminal defense in rural areas on the decline, we are setting up Texas residents for failure; pushing them to take unfair pleas, being held in jails for lengthy periods of time far beyond what is necessary, and backlogging the court system. This article explores the idea proposed by the Texas Indigent Defense Commission, that if a pipeline program was created to get students to attend law school, graduate, and prepare to become public defenders in these rural areas—this will help mitigate the indigence and attorney shortage crisis. Further, it explores the idea of incentivizing defense attorneys to go practice in these areas by providing loan repayment plans the way medical professionals receive such assistance by practicing in rural communities.
Last Page
22
First Page
1
Recommended Citation
Cody J. Huffman,
Indigent Defense: How the Attorney Shortage Crisis Raises the Continued Need for Public Defense in Rural Areas of the Lone Star State,
28
The Scholar
1
(2025).
Available at:
https://commons.stmarytx.edu/thescholar/vol28/iss1/1
Volume Number
28
Issue Number
1
Publisher
St. Mary's University School of Law
Editor
Priscilla Okolie
ISSN
1537-405X
