According to the September 1988 Bureau of Justice Statistics's "Criminal Defense for the Poor, 1986," State, local, and county governments spent almost $1 billion to provide legal representation to 4.4 million indigent criminal defendants in 1986. The dominant delivery system was assigned counsel programs, as opposed to salaried public defenders or contract arrangements with law firms or groups of firms. An ideal assigned counsel program as recognized by the National Legal Aid and Defender Association would include compensation for time spent on assigned cases, an independent administrator with authority and responsibility to run the program, the authority to set qualification and performance standards, ongoing training, supervision and feedback, and support services such as investigators, social services, and interpreters.