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Is there any kind of data collected on the percentage of court cases won by court appointed lawyers?

If data is collected on the success rate of the public defender system, is it Nationwide and accessible to the public? I'd like to visit the website or contact the compilers and request a hard copy of any published assesments, comments and or conclusions of the findings.
If any one reading this knows of such a project, please send and helpful suggestions to peyotesmoke@comcast.net
PEACE,
Mike Lukascik
Vancouver, USA

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Attorney answers (2)

Avvo Pro

Reputation Level 10
I know of no studies that have been conducted regarding the "success rate" of the public defender system. I doubt that any have been done simply because it would be next to impossible to define "success." For example, if a defendant were charged with 3 crimes and the public defender manages to get 2 dismissed and the other reduced, is that a "success" even though the client was convicted of a crime?

There have been some studies done on how many cases a public defender should have to take in a year. The theory is that by decreasing the number of cases an attorney handles, the quality of representation will increase. I just did a quick search on the Washington Courts website for public defense (here's the link to the search results: http://www.courts.wa.gov/search/index.cfm?fa=se...) and I think there are some documents there that discuss the investigations into public defender caseloads and the appointment process. Hopefully that will be of help to you!
3 people marked this answer as good

Avvo Pro

Reputation Level 19
I read a study a while back on the federal system that said it did not make a difference whether you had a public defender or not. But, it all comes down to the private attorneys you use. Some are better, a lot are worse, I have seen the worse a lot.
1 person marked this answer as good

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