Arising out of the National Offender Survey for the AustralianLaw Reform Commission this paper presents the views of a sample of incar cerated Federal offenders towards the institution and personnel of Legal Aid. Such views are placed within the offender's assessment of the criminal justice system as being essentially malleable and illu strates diverse sources of sentencing disparity. Contextualising the views of Federal offenders by reference to the views of 250 state offenders, the paper presents an assessment of Legal Aid as an institution whose purpose is betrayed by deficiency in attitude as distinct from competence of personnel. The criticism of Legal Aid extended by the respondent population is merely an extension of the assessment they extend to the legal profession generally.
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