“All of this highlights the contradiction at the heart of Louisiana’s public defense system. For those with little money, trends away from tickets and jail time may be a welcome development. But those same trends jeopardize a poor person’s ability to get a lawyer if he or she needs one.
“All of those are policies we’ve supported,” Derwyn Bunton, the Orleans Parish chief public defender, said of measures to reduce incarceration and punitive fees. “But because of the perverse incentives and the absurdity of our system, it’s hurt us here in the public defender’s office. It just makes you shake your head.”
Pointing out that court fees are paid only on conviction, Mr. Dixon added: “It’s even worse than that. Our revenue is partially dependent on our losing.”"
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/20/us/in-louisiana-the-poor-lack-legal-defense.html?referer=&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Vox%20Sentences%203/21/16&utm_term=Vox%20Newsletter%20All
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