NCJ Number
202693
Date Published
2003
Length
133 pages
Annotation
This report provides a fiscal accounting of the Maryland Office of the Public Defender, its districts, and divisional operations for the time period between July 1, 2002, and June 30, 2003.
Abstract
This annual report from the Maryland Office of the Public Defender provides an accounting of the agency, its operations, and its structure and functions covering the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2002, and ending June 30, 2003. The report begins by charting the agency’s operational growth from fiscal year 1994 to 2003. It offers an overview of the State’s public defender operations which is divided into 12 operational districts. The report is then divided into five programs sections beginning with a description of the office’s General Administration program which provides administration and coordination to all public defender operations and services. It is responsible for policymaking, budgeting, planning, accounting, data collection, procurement, and training coordination, as well as screening, drafting, and recommending all legislative proposals for the office. The second section, district operations, details how the public defender provides legal services to indigents through the 12 district offices where legal representation extends to all stages of proceedings and judicial levels. In the third section an annual overview is presented on both the Appellate and Collateral Review divisions. The Appellate Division has statewide responsibility for all appellate litigation involving public defender clients and the Collateral Review Division provides assistance to indigent inmates for post convictions, parole violations, habeas corpus, extradition, detention, jail time credit, and transcript requests. The fourth section provides an annual caseload review for the Involuntary Institutionalization Services (Mental Health) Division which provides assistance of counsel to every indigent person involuntarily confined to a facility. Services include: 6-month and annual reviews of persons committed to mental institutions, representation of indigents admitted to mental institutions, and representation of indigents seeking judicial release from mental institutions. The fifth and final section provides an annual caseload review of the Capital Defense Division which coordinates on a statewide basis the delivery of legal defense services in capital murder cases. Appendices to the report include: an organizational chart, counties by district, FY 2003 cases opened by district and division, FY 2003 caseload by case type for county and district, summary of fees collected, and managing for results agency key goals. Charts, graphs, and tables