Children & the Law Blog

The Houston Chronicle is covering recent efforts to establish a public defender system in Harris County, the largest county in Texas and third-largest in the county, noting both the proponents (An idea whose time has come?) and the critics (Public defender system has its critics). We’re hopeful a public defender office would improve indigent defense of youth by standardizing the quality of representation and improve the incentive structure for zealous advocacy of the child’s interests as a client. The latest article quotes our own Malikah Marrus on the subject of representation of indigent children -

Malikah Marrus, a social worker with the Southwest Juvenile Defender Center, believes a new system would help. In her years working in the courts, Marrus said, she has seen an attorney pull a child by the ear and yell at him in court and others ignore the youngsters they are paid to defend.

“Some (attorneys) just don’t talk to their clients,” she said. “They just don’t talk to them. It’s like their client doesn’t exist.”

Harris County currently uses a system of appointments by juvenile judges, a system called into question by another Houston Chronicle article - A select few get the cases, and the cash. The article reveals a system, which combined with the fact that judges in Texas are elected, requiring them to campaign and thus to raise campaign funds through donations, that can hardly hope to avoid the appearance of impropriety. The article claims that two of the county’s three juvenile judges “received more than 90 percent of their campaign contributions from the attorneys they appoint.”

The judges, for their part, seem open to a public defender system themselves -

For his part, [Judge] Shelton says he gets no joy from his appointment powers and plans to study public defender offices in other cities. All three judges deny any correlation between contributions and appointments.

“I would be happier if there was a public defender system,” Shelton said.

• Houston Chronicle: Public defender system has its critics
• Houston Chronicle: A select few get the cases, and the cash