Overworked and Underfunded, Public Defenders See Some Light

Governing: Few functions of government are as consistently underfunded as providing legal defense for the poor. Although the problem remains serious, there are indications that, at least in some places, it's starting to get addressed.

Missouri's top public defender drew attention to this issue last month when he attempted to assign a case to Gov. Jay Nixon to lighten his overwhelming workload due to the state's failure to fully fund his office.

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