Public Defender Research Articles

Debundling accountability: prosecutor and public defender elections in Florida

I explore the impact of public defender and prosecutor elections using caseload data from Florida. While most states within the US use popular elections to select and retain prosecutors, public defenders are typically appointed positions. Florida is novel in that for both positions, popular, partisan elections are used to select the office’s leader. I first document important distortions in pre-trial case handling. A public defender re-election is associated with an increase in the proportion of cases resolved via plea bargaining, while prosecutor re-elections are associated with less plea bargaining. At the trial phase, I present evidence that public defender re-elections are associated with a decrease in the proportion of jury trials that result in a conviction, while a prosecutor re-election coincides with an increase in the conviction rate. The results are consistent with voters holding both elected officials accountable for doing their job. Public defenders obtain plea bargains at a higher rate and secure acquittals for their clients when up for re-election. Prosecutors do not plea bargain as much and win at trial when up for re-election.

Mental Health and Legal Review of Several Related Issues

The research problem of this article will address the specific issues related to mental health in a legal context. The aim of the research is to outline established practices and show us the situation in this regard. To achieve this goal, legal norms are reviewed, both internationally and domestically. Also, cases from court and reports of the Public Defender of Georgia. Research has shown that protecting the right to health is problematic. In particular, mental health services are less accessible and comprehensive. Although the legal framework imposes certain requirements, in practice there are breaches that lead to human rights violations. In particular, the current research revealed violations of the right to life and health. As well as facts of torture and inhuman treatment, both nationally and internationally. This article concludes by suggesting ways to address the problem, such as accessing additional funding for health services, with more controlled monitoring that will tightly control the enforcement of legal requirements. Based on the principle of the welfare state, the state should provide services that do not put people in a psychosocial need in a worse position. Finally, it should be noted that as a result of the research, specific issues related to mental health were identified, which were reviewed in a legal context. The practices that exist in the international and national levels were highlighted.

Reducing Pretrial Detention: A Randomized Intervention with Public Defenders in El Salvador

Approximately one third of the global prison population is in pretrial detention, waiting for trial. Overreliance on pretrial detention exposes defendants to harsh conditions, exacerbates jail overcrowding, increases recidivism, and favors criminal governance. What policies can resource-strapped countries implement to effectively address excessive pretrial detention? Based on a theoretical model focused on institutional-level efforts, we evaluate an experimental intervention implemented in El Salvador intended to increase pretrial release requests and reduce pre-trial detention. The intervention randomly assigned public defenders to receive specialized legal training, an improved interview protocol, material resources, and increased communication channels. We find that this inexpensive, scalable program increased pretrial release requests from public defenders by nearly 10% (0.228 standard deviations) and increased the success in securing pretrial release by 4.4% (0.114 standard deviations). Heterogeneous treatment effect analyses suggest that the program increased strategic litigation among the most experienced public defenders and has distinct effects for those accused of minor and severe crimes. We find no evidence that the mechanism explaining our results involves changes in public defenders’ attitudes or perceptions about their work environments. Criminal justice programs focusing on pretrial detention may help reduce prison overcrowding in high crime countries.

Examining the Type of Legal Representation and Its Influence on Disaggregated Dispositions in Juvenile Court

While prior studies of juvenile court outcomes have examined the impact of legal representation on out-of-home placement versus community sanctions, previous research has not fully explored the variation within sanctions that youth receive. The current study examines the influence of type of legal representation (public defender or private attorney) when predicting juvenile adjudications and dispositions. Using a sample of delinquent referrals from a Northeast state between 2009 and 2014, results showed that youth do receive different outcomes (e.g., probation, drug and alcohol treatment, accountability-oriented dispositions, etc.) based on the type of legal representation. The findings have important implications for juvenile court processing related to how courtroom actors impact case outcomes.

The autonomy of public defender's offices: a systematic comparison between Latin American countries

PurposeIn most Latin American countries, the provision of legal assistance to the vulnerable population is carried out by public defender's offices (PDOs), agencies composed of state-paid career lawyers. The aim of this paper is to explain the cross-country variation in regarding the autonomy levels of Latin American PDOs.Design/methodology/approachA scale to measure autonomy was built allowing access to the autonomy of sixteen different PDOs. Data were gathered through content analysis of the statutes that organize the PDOs and analyzed through qualitative comparative analysis (QCA).FindingsThe results demonstrate different levels of autonomy among Latin American PDOs. Furthermore, conditions related to institutional and social contexts, such as levels of income, human development, democracy, and the complexity of the political systems, presented sufficient relationships for high levels of autonomy.Research limitations/implicationsIt was not possible to interview representatives of the PDOs analyzed. This could help the interpretation of the legislation applied to PDOs, as well as the observation of regulations that may not have come to the knowledge of researchers. Thus, analyses were made according to what was observed in the legislation of each country. It is also noteworthy that this research covered only nationwide PDOs, not involving subnational PDOs. In addition, the data have only internal validity, and cannot be extrapolated to the population.Practical implicationsThe creation of a scale to measure the autonomy of public agencies stands out as an original comparative data set of PDOs covering a large amount of Latin American countries.Social implicationsThis study was able to characterize the institutional arrangements of sixteen national PDOs, allowing broad comparison between legal aid agencies for the vulnerable population in a region of the world that still suffers from high levels of poverty.Originality/valueThe article presents possible explanations on the variations of PDOs' level of autonomy, showing PDOs' idiosyncrasies, whose autonomy is influenced also by social context variables, in view of the nature of their mission. It should be noted that factors related to the social context are not widely considered by the literature on autonomy of public agencies.

Perceived Effectiveness of Parent Representation Social Workers by Legal Professionals Involved with Indigent Defendants

The total number of children in the U.S. foster care system exceeds 428,000. Previous research indicates that when social workers and legal professionals work together, children and their families benefit significantly. Parents who effectively engage in the child welfare system are more likely to benefit from services and reunify with their children. The present study employed a phenomenological approach to explore how a parent representation pilot, which paired social workers with public defenders to better represent the needs of families in the child welfare system, was experienced by legal professionals. Judges and family court attorneys (n = 9) found the program to be helpful in reunifying families. Public defenders were able to leverage the social worker’s skills and experience to facilitate more positive outcomes, while reducing case burden. Challenges were also identified and included a lack of interdisciplinary training, potential overlap in ethical responsibilities, and role confusion. Structured intervention programs that encourage collaboration between social workers and legal professionals may improve case outcomes for indigent families involved in the child welfare system. It is advised that social work undertake a formal multidisciplinary approach in support of public defenders, which may serve to encourage positive case outcomes.

Toward a method for evaluating court actor influences on plea negotiations: A preliminary exploration of public defenders.

Plea negotiations remain difficult to study, partly because their informality implicates workgroup-related factors within decision-making. In quantitative analyses, these factors are impossible to measure using the case-level data alone. The current study proposes a combined method using survey data and administrative case data as a means of contextualizing the plea process from the standpoint of workgroup members and quantifying workgroup characteristics that can be used as variables in models predicting actual plea outcomes. A preliminary exploration of this kind is conducted with public defenders. The survey data revealed that public defenders thought pleas were necessary to manage caseloads and resources, but also felt the benefits to defendants outweighed the drawbacks. In a descriptive analysis linking survey- and case-level data, the percent of charge reductions among plea cases varied substantively based on both workgroup relationship characteristics and ideologies of the public defenders. Directions for future research adopting this type of approach are discussed.

Can Transportation Subsidies Reduce Failures to Appear in Criminal Court? Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial

The failure to appear (FTA) for a scheduled court hearing can have serious consequences for a criminal defendant. Many have speculated that transportation is a material barrier to court appearance. We provide evidence from the first randomized controlled trial of transportation subsidies to reduce FTAs, conducted jointly with public defenders and the transportation authority in Seattle, Washington. The most intensive intervention was a transit card providing 2-3 months of free public transportation. We find little evidence that transportation subsidies reduce FTAs. The treatment group had a similar FTA rate as the control group, and we can rule out with 95% confidence that transit subsidies reduced the FTA rate by more than six percentage points. While transportation subsidies might be more effective in reducing FTAs if combined with other supportive services or outreach, our results suggest that transportation subsidies alone have limited benefits for this aspect of criminal justice.

Análise das demandas judiciais de idosos com diagnóstico de câncer no serviço público de saúde

Objetivo: caracterizar serviços e insumos demandados por pacientes diagnosticados com câncer, de 60 anos e mais, por meio de processos judiciais contra o Distrito Federal. Método: estudo transversal, análise documental de 94 processos de 2017. Resultados: Os demandantes do estudo eram, majoritariamente, do sexo masculino (59,6%), com média de idade de 71+7,6 anos. A maioria das demandas teve origem em serviços público, provenientes da Defensoria Pública (89,4%), solicitando medicamentos (36,2%), radioterapia (36,2%) e consultas (35,1%), com custo médio aproximado de R$ 43 mil. Conclusões: os pleitos surgiram da dificuldade de acesso em tempo oportuno a rede de atenção oncológica local.

Making Gideon Count? Public Defender Resources and Felony Case Outcomes for Black, White, and Latinx Individuals

Although Gideon v. Wainright has provided indigent defendants potentially facing prison time the right to counsel, commentators and scholars have documented that the public defense system is vastly underfunded and currently in crisis. However, research has rarely examined how public defender resources impact case outcomes, and the research that does exist has yet, to my knowledge, examine how these resources impact racial disparities in case outcomes. By merging data from the Census of Public Defender Offices to data from the State Court Processing Statistics, I begin to fill this gap. Results from multivariate regression analyses with state-year fixed effects provide mixed evidence. Regardless of race, higher public defender and support staff caseloads tend to be associated with worse case outcomes. In the case of pretrial detention, I find that high public defender and support staff caseloads exacerbate Black-White disparities. With respect to sentence length, I find evidence that high public defender caseloads exacerbate Latinx-White disparities and some evidence that they mitigate Black-White disparities. In sum, these results provide strong support for the view that the public defender funding crisis harms indigent defendants regardless of race and mixed evidence regarding its impact on racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

Negotiating with parents: Attorney practices in the juvenile plea bargain process.

Research on plea bargaining is increasing, yet much of this work examines how the process unfolds in adult court. Plea bargaining in juvenile court has several notable differences such as parental involvement. Including parents throughout the adjudicatory process is encouraged but ultimately left up to the attorney. Research has not explored whether attorneys include parents in plea bargain discussions with their clients. The present study examined parental involvement in the juvenile plea bargain process. We did not have any formal a priori hypotheses for this exploratory study. The first author conducted qualitative interviews with eighteen defense attorneys from the juvenile division of a public defender's office on the East Coast where we discussed their most recent case that resulted in a plea bargain. Parents were included in plea negotiations and hearings. Attorneys described seeking parental input because parents may be impacted by the terms of the plea and because the court often seeks parental approval. During hearings, parents offered input regarding their child's ability to plea, the disposition plan, and whether they support their child's decision to plead guilty. Pleas might impact parents, so it may be impractical to overlook their interests. However, parent and child interests may conflict, and parents often lack understanding of their children's rights and pleading generally. Therefore, attorneys must not only advocate for their clients, but also educate and manage parents' interests both inside and outside the courtroom. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Aktuální zpráva ke kontaktům dítěte v pěstounské péči s biologickou rodinou

In December 2020, authorities responsible for social and legal protection of children as well as non-government nonprofit organizations authorized to provide social and legal children protection received the “Recommendation of the Deputy of the Public Defender of Rights regarding contacts of children in foster care not only with their parents.” This recommendation immediately raised the response of foster parents, accompanying organizations, and some of the authorities of social and legal children protection. Active members of Section for the substitute family care with the Czech-Moravian psychological society issued a public statement to the aforementioned document in which they point out neglecting the interest of the child and appeal to take into consideration professional psychological findings and experience from practice. We reprint the full text of the statement here and we would appreciate it if this topic, presented on the E-psychologie, captured the attention of experts and raised a further discussion.

A Short Course on the Teachings of Paul Barash.

A Short Course on the Teachings of Paul Barash.

Low-Ball Rural Defense

Focus on the deleterious effects of the privatization of different functions in both the criminal adjudicative system and criminal legal system on the whole has increased on both the scholarship and policymaking fronts. Much of this attention lately has been directed to privatized police forces, privatized prisons, and even privatized prosecutors. As important as the examination of privatization and outsourcing in these arenas is, the role of the privatized public defender—especially those in rural America, with about 90% of the country’s landmass and more than 20% of its population—gets lost in the shuffle. This Article centers these public defenders, especially in the rural context, and the specific ethical conundrums that arise when local governments such as counties and cities decide to privatize their public defense services through the use of competitive bidding. It opens with a comparison of two comparable criminal cases with very different results of the accused to spotlight what happens when public defense is privatized. The Article then discusses the specific perverse incentives that rural public defenders face and burden under when their services are procured by way of competitive bid—not with the intention of arguing that such services should never be bid out, but rather that any jurisdiction using such a system should be fully cognizant of the risks they incur when choosing to do so. The Article then introduces, for the first time, the concept of “noble cause corruption,” previously used to explain and to some extent excuse police malfeasance, in a new context to explain the consequences of some of the choices rural public defenders make while burdening under contract systems, presumably for the good of their clients.

Pre-trial detention and legal defence in Latin America

AbstractPre-trial detention is used extensively in Latin America as a systematic practice implemented by courts. Despite this fact, few empirical studies have analysed the role of defence attorneys in pre-trial incarceration. This paper attempts to describe the actions taken by lawyers in order to free their clients during the judicial process, using new empirical evidence collected from the incarcerated population in Argentina, Brazil, El Salvador, Chile, Mexico and Peru. Results suggest that public defenders request conditional release less frequently but do so more effectively than their private counterparts.

From Their Angle: A Look at the Emotional World of Defense Attorneys Who Represent Sex Offenders.

This research focused on how defense attorneys who represent sex offenders perceive their work with them and whether this representation affects their daily life and mental well-being. Fifteen defense attorneys working for the Public Defender’s Office in Israel were interviewed using a semi-structured interview. The findings indicated two major issues related to defense attorney perception of their work: (1) the distinctiveness of representing sex offenders due to their unique characteristics and (2) the emotional impact of working with sex offenders. The findings suggest complex effects and implications of working with sex offenders. In the interviews, participants reiterated their attempt to remain objective and nonjudgmental. Even so, they also described a wide range of feelings in the face of exposure to sex offenses and their job of defending sex. Feelings of anger, disgust, and revulsion at the offenses co-existed with feelings of pity and empathy for the offender. These descriptions constitute significant support for the emotional cost to attorneys and their consequent distress. Feelings of wariness, loss of trust, and emotional detachment were described as part of coping with exposure to the disturbing nature of sex offenses. In addition, participants noted how these feelings impact daily interactions with their own children.

The role of pro-women institutions in addressing violence reports against women

Violence against women is a major public health and human rights problem. In response, countries have sought to empower and support victims and strengthen violence prevention by promoting the creation of several pro-women institutions, such as a city council for women’s rights, a women’s police station, and a shelter for women facing violence. However, we know little about how these pro-women institutions affect reporting cases of violence against women. This study tests the reporting effects of an integrative framework that includes pro-women institutions, economic, demographic, cultural, political, and symbolic representation factors. The analysis relies on data derived from the 496 municipalities of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Violence against women is captured with reporting of (a) serious threats, (b) personal injury, (c) rape, (d) attempted murder, and (e) murder. Results seem to be contingent on the types of reporting cases and pro-women institutions. Having a police station for women issues boosts reporting cases of personal injury, and the presence of a public defender officer for women increases reporting cases of serious threats and attempted murder. Results suggest local pro-minority institutions seem to enhance government responsiveness by addressing their demands.

Life after Domestic Homicide: Examining the Psychosocial Implications on Children-Survivor

Although the problem of domestic violence has received considerable attention, the study of domestic homicide is relatively recent and limited to precipitating conditions or the act itself. Most of the literature on familicide focuses on the personality characteristics of the victim and perpetrator or tries to answer the question, “How did the death happen?” Little notice, however, has been given to the children of the victim and offender who, in the midst of their loss and extreme suffering, inherit the fallout from the death of one parent, and incarceration of the other. The study therefore explored the psychosocial implications of parental absence on account of death and incarceration on surviving children. Qualitative data were obtained from 18 convicted and awaiting trial inmates for spousal homicide in three selected prisons in Lagos state, key informant interviews (KII) with four officials of Office of Public Defenders (OPD), three officials of Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and two child psychologists. Surviving children of domestic homicide suffer massive upheaval, psychiatric disturbance, ill health, financial difficulties, ostracism, scars from witnessing the domestic violence that preceded the murder and the propensity for future intrafamilial violence. The study concludes that direct and indirect exposure to domestic violence and homicide is negatively associated with children’s emotional, behavioural and developmental well-being. Hence, welfare of such children which should include therapy, relief of suffering, resolution of trauma symptoms, provision of supportive environment and clarification of cognitive or emotional distortions about the homicide should be incorporated in the prosecution process by relevant agencies.

The Effect of Public Defender and Support Staff Caseloads on Incarceration Outcomes for Felony Defendants

AbstractObjective: Although scholars have suggested that the lack of resources available to public defenders—and the associated high caseloads—hinders case outcomes for defendants, this has rarely ...

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