Holistic Defense
A sample disposition and mitigation memorandum filed in a juvenile court in Ohio.
This position paper reviews the research on disparities in justice system outcomes based on whether a person is represented by a public defender or by court-appointed private counsel finding that court-appointed counsel achieve less favorable outcomes due largely to differences in compensation and resources available to them. The paper also reviews the literature on the…
From the introduction: “This Essay proceeds in three parts. Part I defines community responsive public defense. Embracing the theme of this colloquium, it situates community responsive defense within the context of increased public awareness of criminal injustice and collective action against mass incarceration. Part II surfaces the work of four public defender organizations that are…
Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (2023). This report examines the state of public defense in Virginia, as requested by the state’s Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission. Virginia has a hybrid public defense system comprised of either state-funded local public defender offices or private court-appointed defense attorneys compensated by the state. This report finds…
The Wren Collective (2023). This independent report by the Wren Collective examines youth defense appointment practices in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and finds that juvenile court judges are routinely assigning private attorneys over public defenders to represent youth in juvenile court. Specifically, the public defender’s office was appointed to 25% of the juvenile delinquency cases in…
From the introduction: “This manual was originally created in 2005 to provide defense attorneys in juvenile court with a general guide to appropriate and zealous advocacy on behalf of young people in juvenile court. Since that time, much has changed in juvenile defense, both nationally and here in Georgia. Nationally, the U.S. Supreme Court has…
From the introduction: “In this report, we present each of the Community Oriented Defense (COD) Ten Principles in the context of profiles of defender programs that are putting the various Principles into action. Those cited are but a few of the many defender programs incorporating the COD Ten Principles today and represent just some of…
