Notable Recent Publications features the latest empirical research and data related to indigent/public defense. If you have suggestions, ideas for work that should be included, or trouble accessing any of the articles featured, please write to Venita Embry at vembry@rti.org.
*New Articles and Reports*
Bing, L., Goldstein, R., Ho, H., Pager, D., &
Western, B. (2024). The long-term impact of debt relief for indigent defendants
in a misdemeanor court. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(51),
e2415066121.
US courts regularly assess fines, fees, and costs against
criminal defendants. Court-related debt can cause continuing court involvement
and incarceration, not because of new crimes, but because of unpaid financial
obligations. We conducted an experiment with 606 people found guilty of
misdemeanors in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma. Study participants were randomly
selected to receive relief from all current and prior fines and fees assessed
for criminal charges in the county. Fee relief reduced jail bookings 21 mo
after randomization and the effect persisted over 44 mo of follow-up. Although
fee relief reduced incarceration, financial sanctions had no effect on
indicators of lawbreaking. Instead, the control group (who obtained no relief
from fines and fees) were rearrested at significantly higher rates because of
open arrest warrants for nonpayment. These results indicate the long-term and
criminalizing effects of legal debt, supporting claims that financial sanctions
disproportionately harm low-income defendants while contributing little to
public safety.
Kim, Jaeok, Will McKeithen, Emma Delaporte, and
Christopher Gernon. "Putting Bail Reform into Practice." Vera
Institute, January 2025. https://vera-institute.files.svdcdn.com/production/downloads/publications/Putting-Bail-Reform-into-Practice-Report.pdf
This report is the second in a two-part series combining
administrative data analysis, court observations, and interviews with court
actors to provide an extensive look into how five upstate counties—Albany,
Broome, Erie, Tompkins, and Ulster—implemented bail reform on the ground. The
previous report focused on the bill’s initial implementation in 2020 during the
height of the COVID19 pandemic and lockdown.2 This report continues the story
to examine how upstate courts implemented bail reform post-lockdown and
solidified a “new normal” within the pretrial system between 2021 and 2022. In
particular, the report highlights how courts interpreted and applied key
provisions of bail reform regarding presumptive release, pretrial supervision,
bail arguments, bail affordability, and court non-appearance.
Lacoe, J., Fischer, B., & Raphael, S. (2024). The
Effect of a Pre-Arraignment Legal Representation Pilot on Pretrial Release and
Criminal Case Outcomes. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 1-23.
Low-income individuals facing criminal charges experience
disproportionately high rates of pretrial detention and conviction. We study a
pilot program in Santa Clara County, CA that aims to address this inequity
by providing access to public defenders immediately following arrest. The
Santa Clara Public Defender agreed to provide pilot services one day per week,
rotating the intervention day across weeks. Individuals booked on an
intervention day were eligible for early legal representation, while
individuals booked on control days received public defender services as usual.
The study leverages the rotating treatment day to compare pretrial release and
case outcomes between eligible individuals booked on treatment days and
eligible individuals booked on control days. Pilot program participants
were 28 percentage points more likely to secure pretrial release, and 36
percentage points more likely to see their cases dismissed, relative to
comparable individuals who generally first meet with their public defender at
arraignment. Providing prompt access to legal representation could
improve release and case outcomes for low-income individuals and the efficacy
of public defense.
Ostrom, B.J., Racek, F., Freeman, K.R., & Monaghan,
R. (2024). The Fair and Timely Resolution of Criminal Cases: North Dakota’s
Transformational System of Effective Caseflow Management. National Center for
State Courts. Retrieved from: https://www.ndcourts.gov/news/north-dakota/north-dakota-supreme-court/reports/study-finds-north-dakota-courts-lead-in-effective-management-of-felony-cases
Abstract: The National Center for State Courts has released
the results of a multi-year study of criminal case management in North Dakota. This
project culminated in a 75-page full report that presents 1) the steps taken in
North Dakota to build a comprehensive system of criminal caseflow management
that can successfully be deployed statewide and 2) the actions taken to
mitigate delays identified through this work.
The full report illustrates the process used in North Dakota to develop
and implement a system of criminal caseflow management that supports the
effective resolution of criminal cases.
It is designed for readers interested in learning more about this
approach and is organized by the basic strategy used most effectively in North
Dakota: (1) set expectations and build
the data foundation, (2) evaluate current practice, (3) understand the
principles of caseflow management and implement docket management concepts that
get the most out of available resources, and (4) bring together these steps to
design a successful caseflow management system and ensure that timely data is
available both for case-level decision making and for overall court
management. Beyond clarifying the
parameters of an effective caseflow management system, the study also examined
several areas deemed potential sources of delay.
Peterson, L., Friedlander, M. L., Moeyaert, M., Peterson,
C., & Peterson, E. (2024). Testing the efficacy of a single-session
intervention to reduce work-related distress. Counselling Psychology
Quarterly, 1-21.
To address the high levels of work-related stress
experienced by public defender trial attorneys, a brief, single-session FACT
intervention was implemented. A multiple-baseline, single-case design was
employed to evaluate changes in general distress and psychological flexibility.
A variety of visual, regression, parametric and non-parametric analyses were
used. Results demonstrated significant reductions in distress for some
participants, and increases in psychological flexibility for most. These findings
suggest that brief ACT-based interventions may help psychotherapy clients
increase their psychological flexibility when experiencing work-related
distress. This study tested the efficacy of a single session, online
intervention based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for decreasing
work-related distress and increasing psychological flexibility in a sample of
11 public defender attorneys. While general distress was reduced in some, but
not all, participants, most of them reported meaningful increases in
psychological flexibility, the central concept in ACT.
Reynoso Colin, M. (2024). Addressing the Issue of Public
Defender Excessive Caseload in Low-Income Communities. Capstone/thesis. https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2853&context=caps_thes_all
The Monterey County Public Defender’s Office plays a vital
role in providing legal representation to low-income individuals, ensuring
their constitutional rights are upheld. Although the office effectively
fulfills its mandate, it aims to enhance defense support by exploring ways to
reduce attorney workloads and improve service quality. This project was
developed to assess attorney-to-client ratios, identify staffing needs, and
evaluate the potential benefits of integrating paralegals into the team. Using
a mixed-methods approach, the project included interviews with attorneys to
gather insights on workload challenges and identify tasks that could be
delegated to paralegal staff. Findings revealed that certified paralegals could
alleviate attorneys’ administrative burdens, enabling them to dedicate more
time to case preparation and client representation. The project recommends
incentivizing current legal secretaries to obtain paralegal certification as a
cost-effective and sustainable strategy to strengthen the office’s legal
support infrastructure. Future steps include establishing partnerships for
paralegal training programs and evaluating the impact of these changes on
attorney efficiency and client satisfaction.