Public Defender Offices 2007 statistics

The U.S. Department of Justice the Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics published the 2007 Statistical Tables on Public Defender Offices.

[The report] examines offices that provide representation for indigent defendants through a salaried staff of full-time or part-time attorneys who are employed as direct government employees or through a public, nonprofit organization. Public defender offices are categorized according to whether they are principally funded and administered at the state government level, county level, or through a combination of county and state government. Topics include public defender office staffing, caseloads, expenditures, and standards and guidelines used by the nearly 1,000 public defender offices found across 49 states and the District of Columbia.

The site provides information about the source data and offers the report in Adobe PDF, ASCII file or the Spreadsheet formats.

Some Relief for NYC Public Defenders

The recent budget bill passed by the New York State legislature has a provision that caps the caseload for public defenders in New York City. The New York Times writes that

Under the law, New York State’s chief administrative judge would be required to establish new caseload standards for public defenders by April 1, 2010. The judiciary would then have four years to phase in the limits and ensure proper funding. Despite the state’s grim economic condition, the judiciary’s budget for the current fiscal year remained stable at $2.57 billion.

Public defenders in large cities hope that this law serves as a model for the rest of the country. Read the rest of the story here.