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The Texas Weighted Caseload Study

The Texas Weighted Caseload Study. Developing Evidence-Based Caseload Guidelines for Effective Court-Appointed Representation. Indigent Defense in Texas. 48 th in per-capita spending Counties pay over 80% of cost Attorneys are not adequately compensated for defense quality.

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The Texas Weighted Caseload Study

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  1. The Texas Weighted Caseload Study Developing Evidence-Based Caseload Guidelines for Effective Court-Appointed Representation

  2. Indigent Defense in Texas • 48th in per-capita spending • Counties pay over 80% of cost • Attorneys are not adequately compensated for defense quality

  3. Indigent Defense in Texas • How widespread is the problem? • Harris County, 2012: • Top 10% averaged 632 appointments • 32 attorneys received more than 400 cases • One attorney took 952 cases • 45% of felony cases were represented by attorneys with caseloads >150 clients

  4. Indigent Defense in Texas A lawyer with an “S” on his chest for Superman couldn’t represent these people. - Professor Norman Lefstein

  5. House Bill 1318 Not later than January 1, 2012, the Texas Indigent Defense Commission shall conduct and publish a study for the purpose of determining guidelines for establishing a maximum allowable caseload for a criminal defense attorney that… allows the attorney to give each indigent defendant the time and effort necessary to ensure effective representation.

  6. Public Policy Research InstituteTexas A&M University • Established by the Legislature in 1984 • Land grant philosophy -- Portal for policymakers to access university expertise • Original data collection; Survey research; Large database analysis; Qualitative methods • 30-40 projects/year; 15 state agency partners • Criminal justice, Education, Public health, Social services, Substance abuse

  7. Public Policy Research Institute Impacts of the FDA on Texas Counties Public Defender Feasibility Study Mental Health Public Defender Direct Electronic Filing in Criminal Cases Regional Public Defender for Capital Cases Texas Weighted Caseload Study

  8. TIDC Websites • Public Indigent Defense Data • County Reporting Website • Innocence Project Reporting Website

  9. Tasks and Timeline

  10. Tasks and Timeline

  11. Essential Partners • Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association • State Bar of Texas • National Authorities • Experienced Public Defenders • Texas Defense Attorneys

  12. Tasks and Timeline

  13. Tasks and Timeline

  14. http://texaswcl.tamu.edu

  15. Recruit Attorneys Largest Counties in each Administrative Judicial Region

  16. Recruit Attorneys Largest Counties in each Administrative Judicial Region Strategy: Local TCDLA/ Criminal Defense Bar Associations

  17. Recruit Attorneys All Trial-Level Public Defender Offices

  18. Recruit Attorneys All Trial-Level Public Defender Offices Strategy: Direct Appeal to Chiefs

  19. Recruit Attorneys 39 Counties with Population > 100,000

  20. Recruit Attorneys 39 Counties with Population > 100,000 Strategy: Telephone Recruitment

  21. Recruit Attorneys • Why telephone recruitment? • Balanced attorney enrollment

  22. Recruit Attorneys Potential Sampling Frame

  23. Recruit Attorneys • Why telephone recruitment? • Diverse counties • Do indigent defense policies impact attorney time and case quality?

  24. Recruit Attorneys • Why telephone recruitment? • Assertive outreach and marketing • Increased sample size

  25. Recruit Attorneys More participating attorneys  Larger sample of cases  More informative results re: effects of… • Attorney Characteristics • (e.g., experience or special qualifications) • Client Characteristics • (e.g., juvenile, criminal history, mental health concerns) • Case Factors • (e.g., client in custody, probation concerns, specialty court) • Defense Tactics • (e.g., use of experts, use of investigators)

  26. Recruit Attorneys + Preliminary Approval for CLEs! Great Incentives…

  27. Tasks and Timeline

  28. Collect Attorney Time Data • Webinar training • Custom defenderData software by Justice Works • Attorneys keep time for 12 weeks

  29. Collect Attorney Time Data

  30. Collect Attorney Time Data

  31. Collect Attorney Time Data

  32. Collect Attorney Time Data

  33. Collect Attorney Time Data

  34. Collect Attorney Time Data

  35. Collect Attorney Time Data

  36. Collect Attorney Time Data

  37. Tasks and Timeline

  38. Hypothetical Attorney Time Data

  39. Hypothetical Attorney Time Data

  40. Hypothetical Attorney Time Data

  41. Hypothetical Attorney Time Data

  42. Hypothetical Attorney Time Data

  43. Hypothetical Attorney Time Data

  44. Tasks and Timeline

  45. “Sufficiency of Time” Survey • Do attorneys feel they have sufficient time for essential activities and functions? • Where is practice acceptable? • Where is more time needed?

  46. Tasks and Timeline

  47. Delphi Process • Problems that cannot be precisely measured • Collective expert judgments • Questionnaires + Opinion Feedback

  48. Tasks and Timeline

  49. Final Report

  50. Public Policy Research Institute

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