Dear Editor,
The name Office of the Public Defender is a mistake. It is just not consistent with the international norms for such an office.
For example, in the United States and Brazil, a public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who cannot afford to hire an attorney. In New Zealand, the Public Defender Services, administered by the Legal Services Agency, is an in-house service which provides criminal legal aid and duty solicitor services to up to one-third of all legally aided defendants.
In the United Kingdom, the Public Defender Service (PDS) is a department of the Legal Aid Agency that operates alongside private providers delivering a full range of quality services within the criminal defence market; from advice and representation at the police station and magistrates courts through to advocacy in the higher courts.
My suggestion is that we move to a seven-member commission, National Civil & Equal Rights Commission, with a chairperson or executive director.
In the United States, the United States Commission on Civil Rights is composed of eight commissioners: four appointed by the president and four by Congress. Not more than four members shall at any one time be of the same political party. The president also designates the chairperson and vice chair from among the commission's members with the concurrence of a majority of the commission's members.
The commissioners serve six-year terms. No Senate confirmation is required. The president may remove a member of the commission only for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.
The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was created by the US Commission on Civil Rights. Since then, Congress has reauthorised or extended the legislation creating the commission several times; the last reauthorisation was in 1994 by the Civil Rights Commission Amendments Act of 1994.
Established as an independent, bipartisan, fact-finding federal agency, its mission is to inform the development of national civil rights policy and enhance enforcement of federal civil rights laws. It pursues this mission by studying alleged deprivations of voting rights and alleged discrimination based on race, colour, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin, or in the administration of justice. This vital role aims in advancing civil rights through objective and comprehensive investigation, research, and analysis on issues of fundamental concern to the federal government and the public.
We should have a body so designed.
Michael Brown
miguelbro@yahoo.com
Change the name of the Office of the Public Defender
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The name Office of the Public Defender is a mistake. It is just not consistent with the international norms for such an office.
For example, in the United States and Brazil, a public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who cannot afford to hire an attorney. In New Zealand, the Public Defender Services, administered by the Legal Services Agency, is an in-house service which provides criminal legal aid and duty solicitor services to up to one-third of all legally aided defendants.
In the United Kingdom, the Public Defender Service (PDS) is a department of the Legal Aid Agency that operates alongside private providers delivering a full range of quality services within the criminal defence market; from advice and representation at the police station and magistrates courts through to advocacy in the higher courts.
My suggestion is that we move to a seven-member commission, National Civil & Equal Rights Commission, with a chairperson or executive director.
In the United States, the United States Commission on Civil Rights is composed of eight commissioners: four appointed by the president and four by Congress. Not more than four members shall at any one time be of the same political party. The president also designates the chairperson and vice chair from among the commission's members with the concurrence of a majority of the commission's members.
The commissioners serve six-year terms. No Senate confirmation is required. The president may remove a member of the commission only for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.
The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was created by the US Commission on Civil Rights. Since then, Congress has reauthorised or extended the legislation creating the commission several times; the last reauthorisation was in 1994 by the Civil Rights Commission Amendments Act of 1994.
Established as an independent, bipartisan, fact-finding federal agency, its mission is to inform the development of national civil rights policy and enhance enforcement of federal civil rights laws. It pursues this mission by studying alleged deprivations of voting rights and alleged discrimination based on race, colour, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin, or in the administration of justice. This vital role aims in advancing civil rights through objective and comprehensive investigation, research, and analysis on issues of fundamental concern to the federal government and the public.
We should have a body so designed.
Michael Brown
miguelbro@yahoo.com
Change the name of the Office of the Public Defender
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