Welcome to the Louisiana Office of the State Public Defender

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Protecting Constitutional Rights

Louisiana’s public defense system provides constitutionally required representation, protects public safety by preventing wrongful convictions, and safeguards due process and constitutional rights. The Office of the State Public Defender is the Louisiana state agency tasked with providing oversight and supervision to the 42 District Offices of the Public Defender and 7 contract programs who provide representation to indigent person’s accused of a crime throughout the state. Public defenders represent adult indigent defendants in all aspects of criminal representation except for parole. Public defenders also represent juveniles in delinquency matters and parents in Child in Need of Care (CINC) proceedings.

Additionally, the State Public Defender advocates for the creation of stable funding mechanisms that are not reliant on Conviction and User Fees for survival, as well as the re-alignment of the criminal justice system into a system that Louisiana can afford. De-emphasizing incarceration first models to address the state’s mental health and substance abuse crises and elimination of the death penalty will benefit not only the public defense system, but also the entire Louisiana citizenry in many profound ways.

Executive Staff

Locate an Office

Use the field below to locate an office in your parish or city.

Parishes

Acadia Parish Allen Parish Ascension Parish Assumption Parish Avoyelles Parish Beauregard Parish Bienville Parish Bossier Parish Caddo Parish Calcasieu Parish Caldwell Parish Cameron Parish Catahoula Parish Claiborne Parish Concordia Parish DeSoto Parish East Baton Rouge Parish East Carroll Parish East Feliciana Parish Evangeline Parish Franklin Parish Grant Parish Iberia Parish Iberville Parish Jackson Parish Jefferson Parish Jefferson Davis Parish LaSalle Parish Lafayette Parish Lafourche Parish Lincoln Parish Livingston Parish Madison Parish Morehouse Parish Natchitoches Parish Orleans Parish Ouachita Parish Plaquemines Parish Pointe Coupee Parish Rapides Parish Red River Parish Richland Parish Sabine Parish St. Bernard Parish St. Charles Parish St. Helena Parish St. James Parish St. John The Baptist Parish St. Landry Parish St. Martin Parish St. Mary Parish St. Tammany Parish Tangipahoa Parish Tensas Parish Terrebonne Parish Union Parish Vermilion Parish Vernon Parish Washington Parish Webster Parish West Baton Rouge Parish West Carroll Parish West Feliciana Parish Winn Parish

Cities

Abbeville Alexandria Amite Arcadia Baton Rouge Baton Rouge Belle Chasse Benton Cameron Chalmette Clinton Colfax Columbia Convent Covington Crowley DeRidder Franklin Franklinton Gonzales Gonzales Gretna Houma Jena Jennings La Place Lafayette Lake Charles Leesville Livingston Luling Mansfield Mansfield Mansfield Marksville Minden Monroe Napoleonville Natchitoches New Iberia New Orleans New Roads Oberlin Opelousas Plaquemine Port Allen Rayville Ruston Shreveport Shreveport Shreveport Slidell St. Francisville St. Martinville Tallulah Thibodaux Vidalia Ville Platte Winnfield
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Louisiana’s Public Defense System by the Numbers

2023 Charge Attributes

146,744

indigent defendants represented by a Public Defender in 2023

887

attorneys representing indigent defendants in 2023

2023 Funding Sources