Studies by District

July 2008: Defending the Indigent in Northeast Louisiana (The Social Science Research Laboratory, University of Louisiana at Monroe)

This study presents a snapshot of Public Defender operations of both adult and juvenile defense services in the Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Judicial Districts (the parishes of Lincoln, Union, Morehouse, Ouachita, West Carroll, Richland, Franklin, East Carroll, Madison and Tensas), charting many of the changes between the first study of these four Judicial Districts in 2004, making recommendations to deliver the greatest possible operating efficiencies and effectiveness within current resource constraints, and framing the continued debate for increased support.

 

February 2007: Review of the Caddo Parish Indigent Defender Office (The Spangenberg Group)

This study undertakes the following: Review of the program’s budget, staffing, and allocation of resources; On-site interviews with Indigent Defender Board members and the Indigent Defender Office administrative staff; On-site interviews with Indigent Defender staff attorneys of all levels, as well as support staff; On-site interviews of other criminal justice stakeholders in the parish, including judges and prosecutors; On-site interviews with the Caddo Parish Commission’s Director of Finance and the Parish Attorney; Court observation; Review of office policies, procedures and practice standards; Review of attorney practices, including client contact, motions practice, trials, and use of investigators and expert services; Review of the training, supervision and evaluation of attorneys; Review of all staff salaries; Review of previous reports regarding the Indigent Defender Office; Collection and analysis of indigent defense caseload data; and Review of the current indigent defense case management system.

 

December 2006: The Case for Community Defense (Brennan Center for Justice, New York University School of Law)

New Orleans, and in particular the Board of the Orleans Public Defender should work from the outset to establish a model community defender office that will address clients’ needs inside and outside the courtroom. This is the best option if the city hopes to staunch the excessive flow of cases running through its criminal justice system, cut costs and address the most exigent problems experienced by its former clients. Building a stronger system of community defense today will help prevent more onerous and expensive steps tomorrow.

 

May 2006: An Assessment of the Immediate and Longer Term Needs of the New Orleans Public Defender System (Bureau of Justice Assistance, Department of Justice).

Without public defenders, the system grinds to a halt. People wait in jail with no charges, and trials cannot take place; even defendants who wish to plead guilty must have counsel for a judge to accept the plea. Without public defenders, New Orleans today lacks a true adversarial process; the process to ensure that even the poorest person will get a fair deal, that the government cannot simply lock suspects up and forget about them. Despite the efforts of many professionals in the New Orleans criminal justice system, it appears to us that the only justice that can be meted out today is for those who can afford to pay for a lawyers and a bondsman. For the vast majority of arrested individuals, justice is simply unavailable.

 

April 2006: Access Denied: Pre-Katrina Practices in Post-Katrina Magistrate and Municipal Courts (Domestic Disaster Practicum, Northwestern University School of Law)

Detainees can be classified into two main groups: residents and non-residents. Both have challenges to posting bond. Most reported that they: did not have a lawyer during their bond hearings, have never spoken to a lawyer, did not understand what happened in court, other than that the judge set their bond, and did not have any idea what was going to happen next in their cases. Non-residents who came to New Orleans to work reported that the bail bondsmen require them to post 100% of the bonds because they are from out of town. Several of the detainees interviewed reported that they could post bond, but had not been in contact with any family members because cell phones do not accept collect calls. The result is that a significant number of people who have not even been formally charged (and who may never be charged) are being held in custody on relatively minor charges.

 

March 2006: An Investigative Report on Indigent Defense in Orleans Parish (Safe Streets/Strong Communities)

The indigent defense system in Orleans Parish was broken before Hurricane Katrina, and further compromised because of the hurricane. The study finds that: The average number of times that each interviewee had spoken to his or her Orleans Indigent Defender (OID) Project attorney outside the courtroom before Hurricane Katrina hit was 0; The average number of times that each interviewee had spoken to his or her OID Project Attorney since the hurricane was also 0; The average number of days that the men and women we spoke to have been detained pre-trial was 385 days, with the longest wait being 1289 days and the shortest being 179.

 

December 2004: Indigent Defense in Northeast Louisiana: A Study of the Public Defense Systems in the Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Judicial Districts (Criminal Justice Department, University of Louisiana Monroe)

The goal of any public defender system should be to provide quality legal services to the poor. Lack of available resources and consistent funding too often results in less than favorable outcomes. The obvious need is for adequate funding to reduce burdensome caseloads. Additionally, given the experience and expertise of the counsel involved, benefits such as health care and retirement are a dire need. Finally, any system requires accountability. The indigent defense system of Louisiana is no exception; however, currently no mandated quality control component is in effect. Record keeping is inconsistent, at best, and non existent, at worst. Funding is needed both to administer the indigent defense system, and to ensure that all of the players within the system perform according to the standards that justice and the canon of ethics require.

 

July 2004: The Provision of the Right to Counsel in Caddo Parish, Louisiana (Louisiana State University Shreveport)

Contrary to national guidelines, resources for the Public Defender's Office pale significantly to those of the District Attorney's Office in Caddo Parish on every financial indicator. The total financial resources available to the Caddo Parish District Attorney's Office are three times greater than those available to the Public Defender's Office. The Caddo Parish Public Defender's Office suffers from inadequate and imbalanced funding, crushing caseloads and other barriers to providing effective representation. The failure to promptly meet with clients costs taxpayers money. The Commander of Caddo Correctional Center estimates that Caddo Parish residents must bear the financial burden of six months additional pre-trial detention on average per inmate, at an approximate annual cost of one half million dollars. Inadequate public defender funding and staffing increases the likelihood that indigent clients receive poor outcomes, with a disproportionate impact on minority clients.

 

July 2004: Defending the Indigent in Southwest Louisiana (Michael M. Kurth, PhD, and Daryl V. Burckel, DBA,CPA)

In the public defense function in Calcasieu Parish, there is little client contact, little investigative and/or legal work performed on cases prior to trial, no use of experts, and minimal assertions of clients' legal rights. The study identifies two reasons for this: one is a lack of resources to carry out the public defense mission, and the other is a judicial process that tolerates delays. The felony caseload of attorneys in Calcasieu Parish Public Defender's Office is three times greater than state guidelines recommend. The average time from arrest to disposition of a felony case in Calcasieu Parish is 501 days, compared to a national average of 214 days. Cases often languish for more than three years before they are resolved, and often by a plea bargain. Data from 2001 showed the Public Defender Office in Calcasieu had 17 staff members and 5,100 cases, while the District Attorneys Office in Calcasieu Parish had 88 staff (more than 500% in excess of the Public Defender Office) and a caseload of 6,000 (only 15% more than the Public Defender Office).