Expanding Access to Organized Indigent Defense: Evidence From Quasi-Experimental and Experimental Methods

• In Event: Experimental Methods in Criminology (Sponsored by the Division of Experimental Criminology)

Abstract

We examine the impacts of expanding access to organized indigent defense, where attorneys provide legal services to low income clients, and the attorneys’ effort is monitored and coordinated by third party with the ability to prevent them from providing indigent defense in the future. We first leverage the staggered rollout of two types of organized indigent defense, managed assigned counsel and public defender offices, across counties in the state of Texas to study the extensive margin impacts on incarceration and sentence length. We then supplement this with a field experiment testing the impact of access to managed indigent defense earlier in the criminal adjudication process – expanding managed indigent defense along the intensive margin – conducted in cooperation with the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office and Los Angeles Superior Court. Individuals arriving at select jails in Los Angeles County on specific, and on pre-determined days, will receive access to public defenders early in the intake process. The pre trial detention and case dismissal rate for individuals provided access to early organized indigent defense will be compared to individuals who, due to the timing and location of their booking, were not provided access.

Authors

• Kory Fenstemacher, University of California, Irvine

• Matthew Freedman, University of California, Irvine

• Emily Owens, University of California, Irvine

• Winnie Yee, University of California, Irvine