The Stress of Injustice: Public Defenders and the Frontline of American Inequality
Valerio Baćak,
Sarah Esther Lageson,
Kathleen Powell
Abstract: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… Show more
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