Fund PA Public Defense

We all know this refrain, echoed time and time again by cops on crime shows. But is this promise actually fulfilled for those who cannot afford to hire a lawyer?

In 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Gideon v. Wainwright made clear that the Constitution guarantees that anyone arrested for a crime has the right to legal representation, even those who cannot afford it. That promise applies in every courtroom in Pennsylvania.

When we need medical help, we call 911 or go to the emergency room. Our constitution makes the same promise for legal help—that an attorney will be there when our life and liberty are in critical need.

But in Pennsylvania, that promise is broken.

Pennsylvania has one of the worst indigent systems in the nation. Until 2023, Pennsylvania was one of only two states that provided neither state funding nor state supervision for public defense. Put simply, the commonwealth has utterly failed to meet its constitutional obligation.

Pennsylvania’s public defense system is chronically underfunded and unevenly structured. Instead of a coordinated, state-funded system, responsibility for providing defense services is left almost entirely to the state’s 67 counties. The result is a patchwork: the quality of representation a person receives can depend more on where they are charged than on the facts of their case.

Pennsylvania has begun to invest in public defense, but current funding falls far short of what is needed.

When someone is accused of a crime, everything is on the line, including our collective sense of justice and fairness. So it's our state's responsibility to commit to a full investment in public defense to eliminate the burden placed on counties that has effectively made justice a roll of the dice.

The cost to support a modern, holistic defense system across the commonwealth? Just $50 per Pennsylvanian annually.

Our campaign will compel the commonwealth to fund public defense services to ensure that all indigent clients receive access to constitutionally adequate legal representation. The benchmark budget for a holistic, constitutionally adequate public defense system is $600 million annually or approximately $50 per capita.

More than sixty years after Gideon v. Wainwright, the right to counsel still depends on where you live. That’s not justice—it’s a system falling short of its constitutional promise.

That’s why the ACLU of Pennsylvania filed a major lawsuit in 2024 against the governor’s office and the state legislature—to require the Commonwealth to finally meet its constitutional obligation.

But the state legislature and the governor do not need to wait for a court order to fund public defense.

Lawmakers can act now by fully funding Pennsylvania’s public defense system that ensures every person, in every county, has access to constitutionally adequate legal representation.

Defense is due and our communities can't afford to wait.