October 6, 2026
Public defenders provide constitutionally mandated legal counsel for defendants in Minnesota who cannot otherwise afford representation. The Minnesota Board of Public Defense (BoPD) oversees the state’s public defender system, including establishing standards for public defender caseloads and staffing levels to ensure BoPD provides effective representation to its clients.
We found that BoPD has not adequately managed public defender workloads nor addressed ongoing management and oversight concerns. We make several recommendations to BoPD.
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