Messaging Goals

  • Informing state and local criminal justice stakeholders on what the right to counsel entails and why it is important.

  • Participation in national and other meetings of key criminal justice agencies/organizations on the importance of meaningful counsel for their respective disciplines.

  • Participation in meetings of other policy makers (legislators, county government officials, and others) to convey the importance of integrating the right to counsel in policy development.

  • Continued broad outreach to criminal justice practitioners, policy makers, and other community stakeholders through online resources, including fact sheets, policy guidelines, and related tools that can be used to enhance the public's understanding of the importance of, and advocacy for, effective public defense services for everyone – not simply the defendant.