Defender Research Library

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Research relating to indigent defense at the national level.


Improving Data Collection and Analytic Capacity in Indigent Defense

Alyssa Clark , Janet Moore , Andrew Davies
Indigent Defense Research Association
2016 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
A discussion of why data collection and analytic capacity in indigent defense needs to be improved.


Deconstructing the Right to Counsel (2014)

L.S. Lucas
American Constitution Society (ACS)
2014 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
Discussion of reforming or expanding the "right to counsel" should be held in terms of the substantive right's fundamental values: Access, Fairness, Efficiency, and Legitimacy.  


Six Policy Priorities for Juvenile Defense: Why Juvenile Defense Doesn’t End in the Courtroom (2013)

National Juvenile Justice Network (NJJN)
2013 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
This is a fact sheet designed for policy advocates.


Doing Justice to Gideon (2013)

M. Clark , Deborah Leff
Human Rights
2013 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
The contributions that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has made to indigent defense reform since 2010.


Effective Trial Counsel After Martinez v. Ryan: Focusing on the Adequacy of State Procedures (2013)

Eve Brensike Primus
Yale Law Journal
2013 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
Contemplates defendants' right to effective trial counsel and states' post-conviction procedures.


Fifty Years After Gideon, Lawyers Still Struggle to Provide Counsel to the Indigent (2012)

Mark Walsh
ABA Journal
2013 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
Gideon v. Wainwright 50 years later. Takes an ambivalent perspective on its legacy.


Reclaiming Equality to Reframe Indigent Defense Reform (2013)

L.S. Lucas
Minnesota Law Review
2013 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
This article argues that future legal challenges to indigent defense systems should be based on equal protection principles.


Shrinking Gideon and Expanding Alternatives to Lawyers (2013)

S. Bibas
Washington and Lee Law Review
2013 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
This article offers a voice of dissent against the scholarly consensus that the failings of Gideon should be rectified.


The Right to Counsel: An Unfulfilled Constitutional Right (2013)

T. Young
Human Rights
2013 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
Tim Young describes the failure of indigent defense systems to fulfill the right to counsel.


Too Poor to Hire a Lawyer but not Indigent: How States Use Federal Poverty Guidelines to Deprive Defendants of their Sixth Amendment Right to Counsel (2013)

John Gross
Washington and Lee Law Review
2013 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
Article criticizes use of the Federal Poverty Guidelines in indigency determinations.


Indigent Defense: DOJ Could Increase Awareness of Eligible Funding and Better Determine the Extent to Which Funds Help Support This Purpose (2012)

US Government Accountability Office (GAO)
2012 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
GAO used web based surveys to determine the extent to which state, local, and tribal government allocated federal funding for indigent defense.


Seven Ways to Improve Juvenile Indigent Defense (2012)

National Juvenile Justice Network (NJJN)
2012 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
This fact sheet for policy advocates highlights promising ideas for reform of juvenile indigent defense in the areas.


Qualitative Assessments of Effective Assistance of Counsel (2012)

H.R. Anderson
Washburn Law Journal
2012 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
Defenders have often relied on quantitative measurements, particularly of their caseloads, to support their arguments.


Too Many Clients, Too Little Time: How States are Forcing Public Defenders to Violate Their Ethical Obligations (2012)

Heather Baxter
Federal Sentencing Reporter
2012 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
Discusses economic downturn crippled by simultaneously diminishing their resources.


When the Cheering (for Gideon) Stops: The Defense Bar and Representation at Initial Bail Hearings (2012)

Douglas L. Colbert
The Champion
2012 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
This article argues that zealous representation at initial bail hearings is crucial.


Indigent Defense: Surveys of Grant Recipients, Select Tribes, and Indigent Defense Providers (2012)

US Government Accountability Office (GAO)
2012 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
GAO studied whether DOJ could improve its assistance to grant recipients.


National Indigent Defense Reform: The Solution is Multifaceted (2012)

American Bar Association (ABA) , National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL)
2012 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
This report is the outcome of a daylong discussion by a focus group made up of 18 influential criminal justice stakeholders.


Everything on the Table: LSC Looks to ABA to Help Meet Legal Needs of the Poor (2012)

Rachel Zahorsky
ABA Journal
2012 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
In fiscal year 2012, Congress followed its trend of cutting funding for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC).


Funding the People’s Right (2012)

Julian Darwall , Martin Guggenheim
New York University (NYU)
2012 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
The separation of powers principle  justifies judicial authority to ensure people's right to counsel .


National Juvenile Defense Standards (2012)

P. Purits , L. Thurau
National Juvenile Defender Center (NJDC)
2012 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
Juvenile defense is a specialized practice requiring specialized skills.  


Reinventing the Wheel: Constructing Ethical Approaches to State Indigent Legal Defense Systems (2012)

Bill Piatt
St. Marys Law Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics (St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, Texas)
2012 -- California, NATIONAL LEVEL, Texas
This article considers the ethical dilemmas presented by indigent defense systems, and touts San Mateo County.


The People’s Right to a Well-Funded Indigent Defender System

Martin Guggenheim
New York University (NYU)
2012 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
The Sixth Amendment's right to counsel is a collective right of the People.


System Overload: The Costs of Under-Resourcing Public Defense (2011)

Justice Policy Institute.
2011 -- District of Columbia, Maryland, NATIONAL LEVEL, Rhode Island
This policy paper from the Justice Policy Institute links underfunded public defense systems to mass incarceration.


Epiphenomenal Indigent Defense (2011)

Darryl K. Brown
Missouri Law Review
2011 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
The funding that states devote to it is both too little and too mercurial, according to this article.


Excessive Public Defense Workloads: Are ABA Standards for Criminal Justice Adequate? (2011)

Norman Lefstein
Hasting Constitutional Law Quarterly
2011 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
This article recognizes that excessive caseloads have overburdened public defenders.


Juvenile Defender Resource Guide (2011)

E. Pelletier , C. McGregor , R. Griffin , S. Millier , V. Hernandez , Y. Ford
National Juvenile Defender Center (NJDC)
2011 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
This report covers addresses every issue that could foreseeably arise through the representation of a juvenile defendant.


Juvenile Justice Guide Book for Legislators: Introduction & Overview (2011)

National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL)
2011 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
This is the first section of the 2011 Juvenile Justice Guide Book for Legislators.


The People’s Right: Reimagining the Right to Counsel (2011)

Martin Guggenheim
NYU School of Law
2011 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
Challenges to indigent defense systems be brought on separation of powers grounds.


Census of Public Defender Offices, 2007: State Public Defender Programs, 2007

Lynn Langton , Donald Farole
Department of Justice (DOJ)
2010 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
Bureau of Justice Statistics' 2007 "Census of Public Defender Offices" .


A Price Tag on Constitutional Rights: Georgia v. Weis and Indigent Right to Continued Counsel (2010)

Kathryn Bosse
Modern American, The
2010 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
The Supreme Court has continually refused to set specific guidelines for effective counsel post-Strickland.


Protecting the Innocent: Part of the Solution for Inadequate Funding for Defenders, Not a Panacea for Targeting Justice (2010)

R.P. Mosteller
Missouri Law Review
2010 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
In terms of political messaging, defenders have sometimes experienced tension in expressing their goals.


Overview of Models for Change: Systems Reform in Juvenile Justice 2010

2010 -- Illinois, Louisiana, NATIONAL LEVEL, Pennsylvania, Washington
Models for Change was established by the MacArthur Foundation and is based on eight basic principles.


The Right to Counsel in Juvenile Court: the Conundrum of Attorney as an Aggravating Factor at Disposition (2010)

B.C. Feld , S. Schaefer
2010 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
In In re Gault, the Court formalized juvenile court proceedings.


The Cost of Justice: How Low-Income Youth Continue to Pay the Price of Failing Indigent Defense Systems (2010)

Katayoon Majd , Patricia Puritz
Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy
2010 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
This article investigates why low-income youth fail to receive quality legal representation by focusing on juvenile indigents.


Gideon’s Ghost: Providing the Sixth Amendment Right to Counsel in Times of Budgetary Crisis (2010)

Heather Baxter
Michigan State College of Law
2010 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
Even the most dedicated public defenders face the formidable obstacle of public opinion.


Ethical Obligations of Indigent Defense Attorneys to their Clients (2010)

Phyllis Mann
Missouri Law Review
2010 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
This article first asks, "What do we mean when we say 'indigent defense?'" and answers that question .


State Constitutional Challenges to Indigent Defense Systems (2010)

S.F. Hanlon
Missouri Law Review
2010 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
Argues that right to counsel advocates should direct their efforts to state constitutions and supreme courts rather than federal.


Statewide Capital Punishment: The Case for Eliminating Counties’ Role in the Death Penalty (2010)

A.M. Gershowitz
Vanderbilt Law Review
2010 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
This article argues that all aspects of death penalty cases should be handled at the state level by an elite group of prosecutors.


The National Right to Counsel Act: A Congressional Solution to the Nation’s Indigent Defense Crisis (2010)

C.H. Drinan
Harvard Journal on Legislation
2010 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
This article proposes a federal legislative remedy to the national crisis in indigent defense.


The Silence of Gideon’s Trumpet: The Court’s Inattention to Systemic Inequities Causing Violations of Speedy Trial Rights in Vermont v. Brillon, 129 S. Ct. 1283 (2009)

J. Glaser
Nebraska Law Review
2010 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
Vermont v. Brillon is in tension with its 1963 decision in Gideon v. Wainwright.


Role of Juvenile Defense Counsel in Delinquency Court (2009)

R.W. Sterling
National Juvenile Defender Center (NJDC)
2009 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
Despite the gradual, forty-year development of the substantive right to counsel for juvenile defendants, ambiguity plagues the role of the juvenile defender.


Finding New Ways to Help (2009)

Carolyn Lamm
ABA Journal
2009 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
A message from ABA President, Carolyn Lamm, on the state of indigent representation in 2009.  


State Politics and the Right to Counsel: A Comparative Analysis (2009)

A.L.B. Davies , A. P. Worden
Law & Society Review
2009 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
The authors of this article performed an empirical study of theories about how crime policy is produced.


A Broken Indigent Defense System: Observations and Recommendations of a New National Report (2009)

Norman Lefstein
Human Rights
2009 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
Summarizes the findings of the National Right to Counsel Committee's 2009 report.


Free for All a Free for All: The Supreme Court’s Abdication of Duty in Failing to Establish Standards for Indigent Defense (2009)

Jennifer Allen
Law and Inequality
2009 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
The right to effective counsel does not exist in a vacuum.


Justice Denied: America’s Continuing Neglect of Our Constitutional Right to Counsel (2009)

Norman Lefstein , Robert L. Spangenberg
Constitution Project , National Legal Aid and Defender Association (NLADA)
2009 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
Stakeholders established in 2004 to assess the vitality of the right to counsel for indigent defendants.


Public Defenders (2008)

B. Mantel
CQ Press
2008 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
This is the “Public Defenders” edition of CQ Researcher, a newsletter that investigates a new topic each week.


Advances in Juvenile Justice Reform: 2007-2008

National Juvenile Justice Network (NJJN)
2008 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
Describes the advances in juvenile justice reform that occurred in 2007-2008.


Public Defense Reform Since Gideon: Improving the Administration of Justice By Building On Our Successes and Learning From Our Failures: A Public Defense Leadership Focus Group (2008)

DOJ Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) , National Legal Aid and Defender Association (NLADA) , American University (AU)
2008 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
Report on focus group which included defenders, prosecutors, academics, social workers, client leaders, and policy advocates.


Raise the Proof: A Default Rule for Indigent Defense (2007)

A.M. Gershowitz
Connecticut Law Review
2007 -- NATIONAL LEVEL
This article proposes what the author describes as a “bright-line and classically judicial solution” to chronic underfunding.


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