How can the NC Office of Indigent Defense Services develop an evidence-based long-term plan for high quality and cost effective indigent defense services throughout North Carolina’s 100 counties?
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Project Overview
Summary
The NC Office of Indigent Defense Services (NCIDS) is responsible for providing lawyers to indigent defendants and others entitled to counsel in adult and juvenile criminal cases; involuntary commitment cases; abuse, neglect, and termination of parental rights proceedings; and other cases where counsel is a statutory or constitutional right. NCIDS is seeking assistance with its efforts to develop and publish a long-term strategic plan for the provision of high quality and cost effective indigent defense services throughout North Carolina’s 100 counties, which should cover an eight-year period, by December 2022.
Anticipated deliverables
- Forecast of population trends, poverty rates, attorney availability, and crime rates by county over the next 8 years.
- Comparison of jail populations in public defender counties versus non-public defender counties, and differences in pre-trial release rates and/or length of time for cases to be disposed.
- Comparison of outcomes for juvenile offenders between counties where defense is provided by court-appointed counsel and counties where defense is provided through contract counsel or public defenders.
Planned use of results
The results can assist NCIDS in developing and publishing a long-term strategic plan for the provision of high quality and cost-effective indigent defense services throughout North Carolina’s 100 counties.
Project Team
Office of Indigent Defense Services
UNC Charlotte
University of South Carolina