The right to legal defense is enshrined in the Constitution but until last month, Pennsylvania was one of only two states to not fund it on the state level.

This year’s budget earmarks $7.5 million to expand resources to public defenders, who previously were paid solely by counties, leading to discrepancies across the state.

Public defenders represent criminal defendants unable to pay for private counsel. They have long been underfunded compared to the police and prosecution teams dedicated to securing convictions.

Every person accused of a crime must have access to an attorney to aid in their defense, a right that has been enshrined in the Sixth and 14th amendments to the United States Constitution for 60 years.

Across the commonwealth, public defenders carry hundreds of cases, without adequate access to investigators, paralegals, social workers, and experts. There aren’t enough hours for them to do the basics of representation in every case.

The $7.5 million the state allocated to indigent defense is a pittance compared to the need. More than 120,000 defendants are represented by public defenders in Pennsylvania each year, according to the Public Defender Association of Pennsylvania, a nonprofit whose membership consists of about 600 public defenders employed full or part time throughout the commonwealth.

In most counties, one-third to one-half of all criminal defendants qualify for a government-provided lawyer.

Except for a few grants for specific programs in Pennsylvania, defendants who cannot afford representation were on their own to maneuver through the maze of the criminal justice system that for many could mean years behind bars.

Obviously, the state’s $7.5 million won’t go very far in solving staffing shortages and lack of support hindering many public defender’s offices.

But the new funding is a good first step toward the recognition that defending the rights of those facing prosecution is as important to our social fabric as fighting crime and that access to competent legal representation should not depend on one’s financial status.

— JG