“Listen, Hear my Side, Back Me up”: What Clients Want from Public Defenders

Pruss, Heather; Sandys, Marla; Walsh, Samantha

doi:10.1080/0098261x.2021.2011496

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Miscommunication and misunderstandings between attorneys and their clients were commonly reported in interviews, where defendants reported confusion about certain aspects of their cases (see also Campbell and Henderson 2022;Pruss, Sandys, and Walsh 2022). We also observed some instances that appeared to reflect the possibilities of miscommunication in our fieldnotes.…”

Section: Clip Court Listening Projectsupporting

confidence: 51%

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Attorney-client relationships in a criminal court in Santa Clara County, California

Duarte¹,

Hunt²,

Clair³

2022

Preprint

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This report describes—and offers recommendations for improving—the quality of attorney-client relationships in a criminal courthouse in Santa Clara County, California. We draw on in-depth interviews and ethnographic observations collected between July 2021 and June 2022 from the Hall of Justice, one of four state courthouses in Santa Clara County that deals with adult criminal cases. Interviews with a diverse sample of 37 defendants suggest that they hold mostly positive views of their relationships with defense attorneys, though such perceptions vary by type of counsel and income. Moreover, among those who hold positive perceptions of their current defense lawyers, some defendants expressed negative attitudes toward, and recounted negative experiences with, current and previous lawyers. Ethnographic observations of public court proceedings further reveal recurring negative attorney-client relationship attributes, including silencing and sidelining, miscommunication, brevity of interaction, and cooperation with the state (or, coercion). We conclude with several immediate and long-range suggestions for improving the quality of defense provision in the county.

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Section: Clip Court Listening Projectsupporting

confidence: 51%

“…Court Listening Project notable, as it contrasts with the overwhelmingly negative perceptions of lawyers found among poor defendants and incarcerated people in other jurisdictions and in earlier time periods (Boccaccini and Brodsky 2002;Casper 1972;Clair 2020; but see Pruss et al 2022).…”

Section: Clipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attorney-client relationships in a criminal court in Santa Clara County, California

Duarte¹,

Hunt²,

Clair³

2022

Preprint

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“…Research has sought to examine the nuances of these attitudes and what drives defendants' perceptions about their court-appointed attorney (Boccaccini et al, 2004;Campbell et al, 2015;Pruss, et al, 2022;Sandys & Pruss, 2017). Much of this work has centered around understanding client satisfaction.…”

Section: Defendants' Perceptions Of Attorneysmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Boccaccini and colleagues (2004) found that clients who were able to participate in their defense reported higher levels of trust in their attorney and that trust was associated with satisfaction. More recent research has found that client satisfaction is most often related to the following three factors: communication (e.g., explaining next steps), investigation (e.g., doing what you say you will), and advocacy (e.g., fighting for the client; Pruss, et al, 2022;Sandys & Pruss, 2017). For example, Campbell and colleagues (2015) found that asking for the client's opinion, listening to the client, investigating the prosecutor's evidence, and notifying the client of possible outcomes were associated with satisfaction.…”

Section: Defendants' Perceptions Of Attorneysmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Perceptions about Court-Appointed and Privately-Retained Attorney Representation: (How) Do They Differ?

Henderson¹,

Shteynberg²

2022

CCJLS

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Since Gideon v. Wainwright (1963), discussions about and research on the dichotomy between court-appointed and privately-retained attorneys have been pervasive, most frequently casting court-appointed attorneys in a negative light (e.g., work for the “state,” overworked and under-resourced) relative to their privately-retained counterparts (e.g., work for the “client,” autonomous and self-sufficient). In our survey, we re-visit these perceptions and include an exploratory experimental test in which we varied attorney resumes by attorney type. Consistent with prior research, participants had more positive attitudes of privately-retained attorneys and believed that they were more likely to generate favorable case outcomes than court-appointed attorneys. These attitudes were informed by participants’ perceptions about the attorneys’ resource amounts (caseload considerations, time, and energy), questions of adversarial allegiance, and sentiments of respect and altruism. In the experimental test, there were no differences in attorney ratings between participants “represented” by a public defender and those “represented” by a private defense attorney; rather, it was when asked to compare types of attorneys did these attitudes diverge. Overall, these results suggest that negative attitudes of court-appointed attorneys are somewhat engrained; however, there is now an increasing awareness of the systemic constraints that court-appointed attorneys face, as well as an appreciation for the work they do for indigent and under-served populations and society.

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The Stress of Injustice: Public Defenders and the Frontline of American Inequality

Baćak,

Lageson,

Powell

2024

Social Forces

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Fairness in the criminal legal system is unattainable without effective legal representation of indigent defendants, yet we know little about the experience of attorneys who do this critical work. Using semi-structured interviews, our study investigated occupational stress in a sample of 78 attorneys representing indigent clients across the United States. We show how the chronic stressors experienced at work culminate in what we define as the stress of injustice: the social and psychological demands of working in a punitive system with laws and practices that target and punish those who are the most disadvantaged. Respondents positioned their professional stress around structural, not individual, aspects of the American criminal legal system, specifically punitive excess, underfunding of indigent defense, and the criminalization of mental illness and substance use. Working within these interrelated structural constraints makes public defenders highly vulnerable to stress and attrition.

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“Listen, Hear my Side, Back Me up”: What Clients Want from Public Defenders

Cited by 6 publications

References 9 publications

Attorney-client relationships in a criminal court in Santa Clara County, California

Attorney-client relationships in a criminal court in Santa Clara County, California

Perceptions about Court-Appointed and Privately-Retained Attorney Representation: (How) Do They Differ?

The Stress of Injustice: Public Defenders and the Frontline of American Inequality

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