The salaries for public defenders, who are assigned to defendants who cannot afford their own attorney, are paid for by:

by the state or federal government

Explanation:

The state has public defenders who get appointed by the state or court to represent those individuals who can't afford to pay for a private lawyer.

Public defenders work full time for the government.

The state always want to ensure that every person get a fair trial whether they can afford or can't afford the lawyer , this is to ensure that a person get treated with Due Process, which means they get treated fairly in a any legal matters.

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answer; a cost benefit analysis;