The state's public defenders are refusing to take new cases, pointing out that even with a recently approved raise they are still among the lowest-paid in the nation. A court has ruled that it's illegal to keep poor defendants in prison for more than 7 days, so several have been released because no attorney could be found for them.

Governor Romney has filed a bill to wrest control of the state's public-defender agency away from the judicial system, saying he wants to force the public defenders to either start taking new cases or be banned from such work forever.

Who's right? What's the solution to the impasse?
Read the story: Romney seeks to seize control of public defenders

Page 1

The way to fix this is to pay the attorneys who represent the defendants a living wage. Period. End of story. Anything else is an excuse to get cheap labor and basically asks the attorneys to donate their time. The governor cannot now blame those who labor for almost nothing in service to the public for a crisis created because the state refuses to properly pay the attorneys. Would Mr. Romney work for the hourly rate that the defenders are paid? Judging from his millions of dollars, I highly doubt it.

Rebecca, Boston

Romney continues to dissapoint. When will he takes the needs of the people of Massachusetts into account? When will he stop being so arrogant? Why not be more like Weld. Sad.

Tom, Boston

I just finished a 4 year medicine residency program at a City hospital working 80 hrs/wk for ~$40,000/yr. Why not have law school grads do a 1-3 year internship/residency equivalent working for the public defenders office. The experience would be invaluable and it wouldn't cost the state any more money.

AB, western mass

I beleive the lawyers are on the correct side of this battle as these "public" defenders are the key to our constitutional rights. These lawyers are fighting against the endless resources of the DA and AG offices around the states and need money to defend these people. I know some public defenders and trust me these people are not in it for the money - they actually believe in every American's constitutional right to be defended and want to make a difference. It is very easy for Romney to sit there and call people "greedy" for wanting more money when he built his fortune on greed - hypocrite.

Joe, Boston

Nice of the multi-millionaire to try to force people to work for substandard wages. These republicans crack me up.

jonny, chelsea

Its simple. The police need to start making better decisions on who to arrest. The cases need to be taken on priority. I would care if a rapist got released because of this situation, but it seems unlikely. Let people such as marijuana users and other victimless crimes get the free pass for now.

Steve, Tewksbury

So no lawyer has ever done pro-bono work? And even if they are getting paid a bit less than some other lawyers in other states, who turns down work? Maybe the attorneys should get off their high-horses and remember they are being paid more than plenty of other professions.

Karl, Medford

Romney should tell these ambulance chasing, word spinners to get back to work. I read in the Herald they are refusing to work for more money than prosecutors are getting...give 'em more money...but after that it is take it or leave it! Go Dubya! Romney '08!!!

Cuz, Allston

It's not a matter of who to blame. We have a long standing problem that needs to be resolved. Approving a pay raise helps, but failing to fund it makes that a hollow effort to address the problem. Perhaps we could fund that raise and then provide an increase in another year. The solution however should NOT be for Romney to highjack the authority over public defenders and then threaten and bully them. That may work as a CEO Mitt, but I think we have to calm down and come up with a more practical long term solution that doesn't make the situation worse than it already is.

Tim, Arlington

Let me get this straight... MA PD's are the lowest paid in the country, and they want a pay increase that would still make them amongst the lowest paid in the country... in a state with one of the highest costs of living... after paying $100,000 for a law degree and trying to use it to actually help people instead of being the average leech-like lawyer. So now Romney wants to "take control" of the situation, and insist that no pay raises be given despite the fact that he claims that we're out of our recession and he wants to cut taxes because the state's reaping in so much money. And then he's going to fire any of the already under-paid and over-worked PD's who argue. PD's took that job because they want to help people. They are NOT doing it for the money, they are NOT doing it because it's glamerous work (unlike what you see on TV, most PD's work with dumb kids who do stupid things). They earn less than many people who don't have so much as a high school diploma, yet they spent 7 long years in higher education and then passed the Bar, spending hundreds and thousands of dollars to do the above. If I were a PD and I heard Romney's threat, I'd quit right now and go find a job that allowed me to pay off my student loans. I have a feeling that this is exactly what's going to happen. I wonder how many criminals will have to be released then? Doesn't Romney have a book to pimp or something?

Megan, Weymouth