Just Released: National Public Defender Workload Study
Rand Corporation, et al. | Published on 9/12/2023
A National Public Defender Workload Study has just been released after a combined effort from the RAND Corporation, the National Center for State Courts, the American Bar Association‘s Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants, and Lawyer Stephen F. Hanlon.
The study updates standards that were set 50 years ago. According to the National Association for Public Defense (NAPD), the study finds that effective public defense requires over twice as much time as previously thought.
Per NAPD:
"Workload standards from 1973 simply no longer apply to our era of digital and scientific evidence. This study gives public defenders across the country, including in your community, a tool for evaluating current personnel needs."
You can find the study and NAPD's talking points and keys to understanding the study
here.