Maine Advisory Committee Issues Addendum to Report: The Right to Criminal Legal Defense in Maine

The Maine Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has released a report addendum following their November report on the right to criminal legal defense in Maine. Despite increased public attention to Maine’s lack of public defenders since the Committee first took testimony on this issue in 2022, Maine has not provided a system of fully funded public defense that meets the current need. With this in mind, the Committee is releasing an addendum to highlight the barriers that currently exist to fully funding a system for indigent public defense in Maine.