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Legal aid in the United States appeared as early as the 1870s,〔(NLADA: About NLADA - History of Civil Legal Aid )〕 but for the most part, the U.S. legal aid system remained piecemeal and underfunded until well into the 20th century. Defendants under criminal prosecution who cannot afford to hire an attorney are not only guaranteed legal aid related to the charges, but they are guaranteed legal representation in the form of public defenders as well. ==History== In the early 1960s a new model for legal services emerged. Foundations, particularly the Ford Foundation, began to fund legal services programs located in multi-service social agencies, based on a philosophy that legal services should be a component of an overall anti-poverty effort. In a series of cases, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that American indigents do have a right to counsel, but only in criminal cases. See ''Gideon v. Wainwright''. A few states (like California) have also guaranteed the right to counsel for indigent defendants in "quasi-criminal" cases like paternity actions〔''Salas v. Cortez'', (24 Cal.3d 22 ) (1979).〕〔Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code § 317.〕 and involuntary terminations of parental rights.〔Cal. Fam. Code §§ 7860-7864.〕 The federal government and some states have offices of public defenders who assist indigent defendants, while other states have systems for outsourcing the work to private lawyers. In 1974, Congress created the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) to provide federal funding for civil (non-criminal) legal aid services. LSC's funding has fluctuated dramatically over the past three decades depending upon which political parties were in control of Congress and the White House. For example, LSC suffered staggering funding cuts under former President Ronald Reagan in the early 1980s (after he was unable to carry out his stated objective of abolishing LSC altogether).〔Kris Shepard, ''Rationing Justice: Poverty Lawyers and Poor People in the Deep South'' (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2007), 224-227.〕〔Alan Shank, ''American Politics, Policies, and Priorities'' (Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1984), 383.〕 LSC funding flourished during the early years of President Bill Clinton's administration, but was severely cut again in 1995 after the Republican Party retook control of Congress. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Legal aid in the United States」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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