The California Appellate Project in San Francisco (CAP-SF) is a nonprofit corporation established by the State Bar of California in 1983 as a legal resource center to implement the constitutional right to counsel for indigent persons facing execution. CAP serves the largest population of condemned individuals in the country and is funded primarily by a contract with the Judicial Council of California.

CAP-SF assists in capital postconviction proceedings, supporting appointed counsel in challenging their clients' convictions and sentences on direct appeal and through habeas corpus proceedings. We provide counsel with training, resource materials, and other legal support services.

In addition, CAP-SF assists unrepresented death row inmates by collecting and preserving evidence for their postconviction claims and by providing advocacy as needed during the period of incarceration before counsel is appointed.

CAP-SF also consults, at the request of the judiciary, on policy matters regarding indigent defense representation in capital cases.