Being a public defender is a tough job. Being a public defender in the South — which has a reputation for heavy caseloads, harsh sentencing and tough criminal laws — is especially challenging.
Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama have the three highest per-capita incarceration rates in the nation, a 2012 report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics found. The five states with the most prisoners serving life without parole for nonviolent crimes are all in the South, according to a recent American Civil Liberties Union report.
