Outline - Legal Services for the Indigent - Bail System - Plea Bargaining Legal Services for the Indigent The legal system accommodates both the rich and the poor. However, access to legal representation is not equitable. In some cases, lawyers charge more than $200 an hour putting legal services out of reach for many. This is why the justice system has provided sources of legal assistance for the indigent to obtain legal representation. There are four main sources of legal services for this group. There are public defender programs, assigned counsel systems, contract attorney systems, and legal aid services. Public advocacy programs are non-profit organizations, private or public, with part-time or paid staff (Robins, 2014). Local public defenders carry out their activities autonomously and do not depend on a central administrator. Assigned consultancy systems involve the appointment of lawyers by the court. These are selected from a specific list. Contractual attorney systems involve agreements made between government agencies and private law firms or lawyers to provide services for a certain amount in a certain period of time. Legal aid programs are nonprofit and strive to provide legal services in areas that are not covered by public defenders. Of the four, public defender services are the most used. A study conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice in 1996 found that when all prosecutorial districts were considered, 28 percent of inmates used a public defender compared to 23 percent and 8 percent respectively for the attorney system assigned and contract attorney. The remaining 41% used a combination of one or more services. While the public defender service has its drawbacks, it appears to provide...... half of paper......March 12, 2014. Walshe, S. (2014). The American bail system: one law for the rich, another for the poor. The guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/feb/14/america-bail-system-law-rich-poor on March 12, 2014. Egerton, R. (2013). Legal Aid LLS 210. New York: Taylor & Francis. Garner, B. A. (2007). Black's Law Dictionary (7th edition). St. Paul: West Group. Herman, G. N. (2004). Plea bargain. Charlottesville, VA: LexisNexis.Mittal, R., Sreemithun, K.V., and Legal Aid Society. (2012). Legal assistance: catalyst for social change. New Delhi: Satyam Law International. Robins, J. (2014). Legal aid in 21st century Britain. The guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/money/2009/mar/11/legal-aid-justice-gap on March 12, 2014.Yant, M. (2001). Presumed guilty: when innocent people are wrongly convicted. New York: Prometheus Books.