We’re committed to making Defense Maps the most helpful resource possible in addressing three persistent problems contributing to wrongful convictions, uninformed and excessive sentences, and mass incarceration in America.

  1. Our criminal justice system’s comprehensive failure to live up to the Supreme Court’s unanimous 1973 Wardius ruling that the defense must have at least a “balance of forces” in discovery with the prosecution.
  2. The unmanageable caseloads of many public defenders commonly rendering effective representation of the underprivileged an illusion.
  3. The particularly deficient resources for defense attorneys to learn of their clients’ full defenses and backstories, to engage meaningfully with them, and to offer them that one clear and informed voice required by a constitutional system of criminal justice.

In deploying Defense Maps to address these deficiencies, we’re committed to working with leading figures in the advancement of fundamental fairness in America’s criminal justice system.  These include not only animated defense attorneys and fellow charities but also compassionate and constitutionally dedicated corrections officials, prosecutors, and judges.

Our goals include universal access to this resource and all possible future improvements on it.  Accordingly, Defense Maps is a free and uncopyrighted resource, and law firms, law schools, private companies, and all others are welcome to copy and build on any and all parts of it.