Senate Bill 337 will overhaul long-troubled public defender system
Oregon's system of providing public defense could be in for a long-overdue overhaul. SB 337 proposes to hire a new state employee cadre of public defense lawyers and sets benchmarks for state lawyers to handle 20% of cases by 2031 and 30% of cases by 2035. Oregon is the only state in the nation to rely entirely on private attorney contracts to provide legal defense for those who can't afford a lawyer. District Attorneys, law enforcement, and elected leaders often point to these public defense shortages as a major reason for delays and crimes not being fully prosecuted.
A 2019 report to the legislature, written by the Sixth Amendment Center, found a host of systemic problems. The most notable issues with private attorney contracts were a general lack of oversight and a compensation system which rewards speed and volume instead of accuracy and justice. "This compensation plan creates an incentive for attorneys to handle as many cases as possible and to do so as quickly as possible, rather than focusing on their ethical duty of achieving the client's case-related goals," the draft report states.
"Yet the state of Oregon has no mechanism to know whether it's fulfilling its obligation to provide counsel to the poor who face incarceration in the justice and municipal courts," the draft report states.
The bill also makes major changes to the Commission who oversees Oregon's system, which has long relied upon private attorneys working on contracts for indigent defense. The bill will increase resources and oversight for those additional contracts. is a broad overview of the The Senate Committee on Rules will hold a special work session on this legislation on May 18th at 3pm.
Full summary for HB 337 is available here.
"Oregon lawmakers consider bill to overhaul public defense system", The Oregonian, April 3rd, 2023
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