WILMINGTON
The U.S. attorney general spoke to a group of North Carolina trial lawyers yesterday about the importance of making sure poor people have access to legal representation.
U.S. Attorney Eric Holder told members of the N.C. Advocates for Justice that the state's overburdened public-defender system is just one of many across the country with similar funding and staffing problems.
"In some parts of the country, the primary institutions for the delivery of defense to the poor -- I'm talking about basic public-defender systems -- simply do not exist," Holder said in prepared remarks.
Holder told the attorneys about the Justice Department's Access to Justice Initiative.
The program was launched in March with the goal of giving all Americans better access to legal representation.
Holder said the keys to improving access are to include all players in discussions about the issue and make the public more aware of the difficulties some people face when they can't get a lawyer.
"Shining a light on these problems is important -- and is often an impetus for reform," Holder said.
He said lawyers pushed for changes in North Carolina after the state auditor said three years ago that the public-defender system was falling short of providing adequate legal defense.
"You've also been calling on state lawmakers to make indigent defense services, even in these hard economic times, a funding priority," Holder said.
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