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Indigent Defense Statistics
Summary
findings
| BJS publications | Data collection | Related sites
Summary findings
Right to counsel | Indigent defense services in populous counties |
Federal and State indigent criminal defendants
Right to counsel and methods for providing indigent criminal defense
The sixth amendment to the U.S. Constitution establishes the right to counsel in Federal criminal prosecution. Through a series of landmark decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court, the right to counsel has been extended to all criminal prosecutions, State or Federal, felony or misdemeanor, that carry a sentence of imprisonment.
States and localities use several methods for delivering indigent criminal defense services:
- public defender programs
- assigned counsel programs
- contract attorneys
The Federal system also has several types of programs to deliver indigent criminal defense:
- public defender organizations
- community defender organizations
- panel attorneys
Indigent criminal defense services in the Nation's 100 most populous counties
Expenditures & funding sources | Caseload | Public defender staffing and private attorney appointments and awarded contracts
Among the Nation's 100 most populous counties in 1999, public defender programs were
operating in 90 counties, assigned counsel programs in 89 counties, and contract programs in 42
counties.
Expenditures and funding sources
- In 1999 an estimated $1.2 billion was spent to provide indigent criminal defense in the
Nation's 100 most populous counties. About 73% of the total was spent by public defender programs, 21% by assigned counsel programs, and 6% on awarded contracts. This $1.2 billion represents an estimated 3% of all local criminal justice expenditures used for police, judicial services, and corrections in these counties.
- County governments provided 60% of all funds for indigent criminal defense services in the largest 100 counties followed by State governments providing 25%.
Caseload
- Indigent criminal
defense programs in the largest 100 counties received an estimated
4.2 million cases in 1999. About 80% were criminal cases, 8% juvenile
related, 2% civil, and 9% other types of cases dealing with issues
such as juvenile dependency, abuse and neglect, and contempt.
- Public defenders handled 82% of the 4.2 million cases in these counties, court appointed private attorneys 15% and contract attorneys 3%.
Public defender staffing and private attorney appointments and awarded contracts
- Public defender
offices in the largest 100 counties employed over 12,700 individuals
during 1999, including over 6,300 assistant public defenders, 1,200
investigators, 300 social workers, 2,700 support staff, and nearly
400 paralegals.
- Over 30,700 private attorneys were appointed through assigned counsel programs to represent indigent defendants in the largest 100 counties during 1999.
- Over 1,000 contracts for indigent defense services were administered by contract attorney programs.
State and Federal indigent criminal defendants
Conviction rates | Sentence length
Racial disparity and the use of publicly financed counsel
Publicly financed counsel represented about 66% of Federal felony defendants in 1998
as well as 82% of felony defendants in the 75 most populous counties in 1996.
Conviction rates
- Conviction rates for indigent defendants and those with their own lawyers were about the same in Federal and States courts. About 90% of the Federal defendants and 75% of the defendants in the most populous counties were found guilty regardless of the type of their attorneys.
- Of those found guilty, however, those represented by publicly financed attorneys were incarcerated at a higher rate than those defendants who paid for their own legal representation 88 percent compared to 77% in Federal courts and 71% compared to 54% in the most populous counties.
Sentence length
- On average, sentence lengths for defendants sent to jail or prison were shorter for those with publicly-financed attorneys than those who hired counsel. In Federal district court those with publicly financed attorneys were given just under 5 years on average and those with private attorneys just over 5 years. In large State courts those with publicly financed attorneys were sentenced to an average of 2½ years and those with private attorneys to 3 years.
Racial disparity and the use of publicly financed counsel
- While 69% of white State prison inmates reported they had lawyers appointed by the court, 77% of blacks and 73% of Hispanics had publicly financed attorneys. In Federal prison black inmates were more likely than whites and Hispanics to have public counsel 65% for blacks, 57% for whites and 56% for Hispanics.
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BJS
publications
This list is in
order of the most recent publication first. Additional titles are listed
on other topical pages and a comprehensive list is contained on the
BJS publications page. To see a full abstract
of a publication with links to electronic versions of the publication,
click on the title below.
State-Funded Indigent Defense Services, 1999, 09/01.Presents findings from data collected as part of the 1999 National Survey of Indigent Defense Systems in the 21 States where the State government provides virtually all of the funding for indigent defense services. NCJ 188464
Indigent Defense Services in Large Counties, 1999, 11/00. Describes the methods by which criminal indigent defense is delivered in the Nation's 100 most populous counties. NCJ 184932
Defense Counsel in Criminal Cases, 11/00. Examines issues of legal representation for defendants in Federal district court and large local jurisdictions, and inmates in local jails and Federal and State prison. NCJ 179023
Indigent Defense, 2/96. This report of presented selected findings drawn from various BJS surveys contains information related to the indigent defense for criminal defendants. NCJ 158909
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Data collection
National Survey
of Indigent Defense Systems measured how indigent criminal defense services are delivered in the Nation's 100 most populous counties. 1999
1999 National Survey
of Indigent Defense Systems questionnaires:
Program
survey (96 K, Acrobat file)
County survey (36
K, Acrobat file)
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Related
sites
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