Discuss the pros and cons of private vs. public defense. Please Research Paper

Discuss the pros and cons of private vs. public defense. Please remember this is not an opinion question - Research Paper Example When charged for criminal or civil offences, people always have to choose the type of attorney to use because of the benefits they can accrue from them. This paper reports on the pros and cons of a public and private attorney. The first advantage that associated with public defenders is that they are professionals whose services are given to the public free of charge. Anyone entitled to the services of public attorney does not need to pay. Since they are paid by the county and state governments, the public do not need to spend even a single cent on them. Meaning, they are the cheapest attorneys whose services are guaranteed so long as one qualifies to be represented by them. However, this does not apply to the private defenders who are directly hired by the client who fully pays for their services in case they need to be represented in a court of law. In fact, this is a disadvantage of private defenders (Reyrauch, 2011). Unlike their counterparts, private attorneys only represent one in the court of law if they are properly paid by the same client. Meaning, if one does not have enough money, one might be forced to borrow, take a loan or forfeit the services of a private defender. The other advantage of a public defender is that their presence in a case might make the case to be presided over and finished within the shortest time possible. As public officers, public defenders often have a backlog of cases to represent. Therefore, in order to save on time, they have to liaise with the prosecutor and the bench to ensure that a case is heard and decided upon within a short time. This is the only way through which they can create room for other cases which are obviously awaiting them. Surprisingly, this does not apply to the private defenders who are keen on simultaneously handling a few cases and spending a lot of time in conducting private investigations and conducting all the other logistical. So, with