Sixty years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court in a landmark decision established the right of poor defendants to an attorney and adequate legal defense. Nowhere is that constitutional right more flagrantly violated than in Pennsylvania. It’s one of only two states — South Dakota is the other — that provides no state funding, oversight or uniform standards for local public defenders or court-appointed attorneys.

Fairness in the legal system requires an even playing field, where truth emerges from the adversarial efforts of a competent prosecution and vigorous defense. That doesn’t happen in Pennsylvania. Instead, outgunned and underpaid defenders are often forced to cut corners and forgo expert witnesses and investigators. Cumbersome criminal caseloads push attorneys to settle cases quickly with a plea.

As noted by a 2011 bipartisan task force of state legislators, the issue is not the competency of defense attorneys for the indigent — many of them are outstanding — but the system that gives them neither the time nor the resources to mount a constitutionally adequate defense.

Vastly disparate spending among the state’s 67 counties, which pick up the entire tab for public defender offices, also means the quality of defense depends on locale. Philadelphia, for example, spends nearly 10 times more per capita on indigent defense than does Mifflin County. Allegheny County spends roughly $9.2 million, close to the average per-capita expenditure.