First Appearance Hearings for Misdemeants: The Impact of Early Involvement of Counsel and Variation Across Judges

• In Event: Discretion in Pretrial Decision-Making

Abstract

The Supreme Court has not designated first appearances as a "critical stage" in the criminal justice process, and thus jurisdictions are not required to provide attorneys for defendants at this stage. Nonetheless, recent evidence has shown that early involvement of counsel can impact outcomes at first appearance, but the effects on pretrial outcomes may vary by context (Worden et al., 2020). The current paper uses a quasi-experimental design to examine whether early involvement of counsel impacts pretrial outcomes in a rural jurisdiction, and whether the impact of counsel on outcomes varies across judges. Theoretical and practical implications will be discussed.

Authors

• Jamie Vaske, Western Carolina University

• Morgan Robinson, Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law

• Jessica Smith, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Grace Popp, Western Carolina University