The Criminal Justice Act (CJA) was enacted to fulfill the promise of Gideon v. Wainwright. For many years the dedicated lawyers (panel attorneys) appointed to represent indigent defendants charged with federal crimes were compensated for their work with rates so low the rates did not even cover overhead costs.

The issue of indigent defense funding got an important boost in 2001 when the House and Senate conferees on the FY 2002 Commerce, Justice, State and the Judiciary appropriations bills provided an increase in CJA panel attorney rates to $90 per hour in-court and out-of-court effective May, 2002. In the 106th Congress, hourly rates were increased to $75 in-court and $55 out-of-court, which was the most significant improvement in these rates since 1984. When the ABA adopted policy on this issue in 1998, CJA panel attorney hourly rates were $65 per hour in-court and $45 per hour out-of-court. The $90 hourly flat rate is a significant step towards the eventual goal of providing the full-authorized level of $113 per hour for these CJA rates.

The President's FY 2009 budget recommendation delivered to Congress on February 4, 2008 requests $911 million for federal Defender Services, an increase of $76 million over its final FY 2008 funding level.

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved $854 million for Defender Services on July 14, 2008, a recommended increase of $8 million for FY 2009 over current levels as part of H.R. 2829, the Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill for FY 2009. It provides for an increase in the compensation level for panel attorneys in non-capital cases to from $100 to $102 as well as the capital panel attorney rate per hour from $170 to $174 in FY 2009. The House committee has not yet considered its appropriations recommendations for the next fiscal year.

The House and Senate approved final funding for FY 2008 for federal Defender Services just before the December 2007 holiday recess at $835.6 million. The final appropriation figure was approved as part of H.R.2764, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008, omnibus funding legislation finalized and approved by the House and Senate on December 19, 2007. The 2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008, P.L. 110-161, authorized and provided funds to raise the non-capital hourly panel attorney compensation rate from $94 to $100, and the maximum hourly capital rate from $166 to $170 for federal capital prosecutions and capital post-conviction proceedings.

• The late Chief Justice Rehnquist supported increased funding for CJA panel attorneys. He stated that "[i]nadequate compensation for panel attorneys is seriously hampering the ability of federal courts to recruit and retain qualified panel attorneys to provide effective representation" under the CJA.


• Increased hourly rates are needed now more than ever to recruit qualified CJA attorneys. At the same time low compensation rates are deterring many qualified attorneys from accepting CJA appointments, the practice of federal criminal law is becoming increasingly more complex. In the last decade, for example, Congress has passed new, more complicated criminal laws, and federal sentencing guidelines have been amended over 500 times. It is therefore more important than ever that CJA panel attorneys become-and remain-competent in federal criminal law.


• Judges rely on CJA panel attorneys, in addition to defender organizations, to provide competent representation to indigent defendants. The large growth in the number of federal defender organizations in the 1990s is attributable to problems with the quality of representation, yet the court's reliance on panel attorney representation continues to increase because of the growth in the total number of cases.


• A recent GAO study disclosed that hourly rates routinely paid by major federal agencies for legal services substantially exceed those paid to CJA panel attorneys. In fiscal year 2001, for example, the average hourly fees paid to private attorneys ranged from $125 to $357. In contrast, the hourly rate for CJA panel attorneys in 2003 is $90.

The ABA urges the federal and state governments to take immediate steps to insure the provision of sufficient funds for the assistance of counsel for indigent defendants. The ABA urges Congress to fully fund the Criminal Justice Act (CJA) with sufficient funds to increase the compensation for panel attorneys appointed under the Act to represent indigent defendants to a flat rate of $113 per hour, plus annual pay adjustments.