Agency overview | |
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Formed | 1967 |
Jurisdiction | New Jersey |
Headquarters | 25 Market Street, Trenton, N.J. 08625 |
Agency executive |
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Website | http://www.nj.gov/defender/ |
The New Jersey Office of the Public Defender (OPD) is an agency that is a part of the government of the state of New Jersey, in the United States. [1] The agency provides legal aid to "low income people charged with major crimes." [2]
The agency was first established in 1967. [1] In 1974, the agency was incorporated into New Jersey Department of the Public Advocate. [1] With the abolition of the Public Advocate in 1994 [3] , the OPD became organized "in but not of" the Department of the Treasury to ensure its independence from the New Jersey Attorney General. [1]
Although the OPD by definition represents low-income defendants, its 1967 enabling legislation required that "in cases where it appears that the defendant has the means to meet some of the cost of services rendered by the public defender, the defendant is required to reimburse the office." [4] This requirement was eliminated in 2023 with the passage of Senate Bill S3771 and its enactment into law. [5]
In December 2023, Jennifer Sellitti was appointed to succeed Joseph E. Krakora as the Public Defender, and will take office effective February 1, 2024. [6]
Winfield Township is a township in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 1,423, its lowest decennial census and a decrease of 48 (−3.3%) from the 2010 census count of 1,471, which in turn reflected a decline of 43 (−2.8%) from the 1,514 counted in the 2000 census. The township is the sixth-smallest municipality in the state. Winfield and Linden share the same ZIP Code.
Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the Court ruled that the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution requires U.S. states to provide attorneys to criminal defendants who are unable to afford their own. The case extended the right to counsel, which had been found under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments to impose requirements on the federal government, by imposing those requirements upon the states as well.
A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Belgium, Hungary and Singapore, and some states of Australia. Brazil is the only country in which an office of government-paid lawyers with the specific purpose of providing full legal assistance and representation to the needy free of charge is established in the constitution. The Sixth Amendment to the US Constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, requires the US government to provide legal counsel to indigent defendants in criminal cases. Public defenders in the United States are lawyers employed by or under contract with county, state or federal governments.
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The government of the State of New Jersey is separated into three distinct branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. The powers of the State of New Jersey are vested by the Constitution of New Jersey, enacted in 1947, in a bicameral state legislature, the Governor, and the state courts, headed the New Jersey Supreme Court. The powers and duties of these branches are further defined by acts of the state legislature, including the creation of executive departments and courts inferior to the Supreme Court.
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