Do you get what you pay for? Type of counsel and its effect on criminal court outcomes

Although the Sixth Amendment of the constitution guarantees assistance of counsel to indigent criminal defendants, questions exist about the quality of this representation. Critics assert that ‘you get what you pay for’ and that public defenders are less effective than privately retained counsel regarding criminal justice outcomes. Some research, however, reveals that public defenders are as effective as privately retained counsel because of their working relationships with prosecutors and judges, the so-called courtroom workgroup. The current study tested the assertion that ‘you get what you pay for’ by examining the effect of type of counsel (public defenders versus private attorneys) on four different case processing outcomes for a large mid-western jurisdiction. Results generally show that type of counsel has no significant direct effect. Tests for interaction, however, suggest that for some defendants, type of counsel interacts with other key variables to influence certain outcomes.     

State Politics and the Right to Counsel: A Comparative Analysis

One of the most significant recent developments in the study of crime and justice is the emergence of theoretical explanations for the dramatic changes in criminal justice policy over the past few decades. These theoretical accounts address not only highly visible developments, such as the meteoric rise in incarceration rates, but also less-conspicuous shifts in due process and civil liberties, and they do so by attributing more-repressive policies to the emergence of a political culture that has substantially redefined crime and justice. This article focuses on an important due process issue, the legal representation of indigent defendants in criminal courts. We describe the state of indigent defense policy, particularly structure and funding, across the states in 2002, and analyze variation on two dimensions where states may exercise discretion: the extent to which states assume responsibility for funding services (rather than relying on local governments), and the generosity with which these programs are funded overall. We test hypotheses that link funding for services with the ideology of state political leadership, public values about tolerance and race relations, and states' public welfare policy climates. We find little support for the prediction that a welfare climate shapes more progressive indigent defense policies. However, the results suggest that the racial threat hypothesis helps account for spending on indigent defense, and that Republican control of the statehouse results in the perpetuation of local responsibility for program funding. Normative literature on indigent defense suggests that the patterns we observe may have important consequences for the quality of indigent defense services across states. Further, the findings reported here suggest that the politics of the punitive turn, as it has played out across the states, may be responsible not only for shifts in crime control policy, but for due process policy as well.     

The Need for a Stronger Definition: Recognizing Abandonment as a form of Elder Abuse Across the United States

Elder abuse is a growing public health problem in the United States and statistics show that each year, hundreds of thousands of elders are abused in some manner. This Note discusses elder abuse while focusing specifically on the occurrence of elder abandonment and how the majority of states do not recognize elder abandonment as a form of elder abuse in their statutes. Moreover, this Note proposes a model statute to be adopted by every state in an effort for elder abandonment to become more widely reported. Elder abandonment is an unfortunate phenomenon and those who contribute to elder abandonment should face criminal liability similar to those abusers who engage in elder neglect or other types of elder abuse. Furthermore, this Note emphasizes that there should be a greater focus on how caregivers can seek assistance in order to prevent elder abuse in the United States.     

Counsel for the poor: An evaluation of contracting for indigent criminal defense

This paper examines the cost-effectiveness of contracting as an alternative to traditional assigned counsel and public defender systems for providing representation to poor people accused of crimes. Contracting has been endorsed by many as a means of conserving public resources while providing experienced counsel; it also has been criticized as a means of ensuring that minimal public investment, and hence minimally qualified representation, is offered to the poor. This study tests the hypothesis that contracting, particularly competitively bid contracting, is less costly than the alternatives, and offers some observations about variation in types of contract and the consequences of this variation for program costs. This study differs from most research on indigent defense in that it is based on survey data from all felony court jurisdictions in a single state, Michigan. The results suggest that competitive bidding is indeed less expensive than the alternatives, but simultaneously raise questions about the implications of this financial advantage for program quality. These findings also suggest that contracting, paradoxically, is adopted in small jurisdictions whose bars cannot support competitive bidding; as a result, these jurisdictions pay a high price for this type of program.     

Personality traits of convicted male batterers

The purpose of this investigation is to determine if select psychological variables are associated with abusive behavior of convicted male batterers. The sample included a treatment group of 75 court-referred abusers who were individually administered the Taylor-Johnson Temperament Analysis (T-JTA) instrument. Explored were: (1) the relationships among personality variables and sociological and demographic characteristics, (2) possible behavioral disorders in our study group of spouse abusers, (3) whether major bipolar personality variables could distinguish our study group from the general population. Results revealed the Taylor-Johnson behavioral disorder types were not useful in identifying distinctions among our spouse abusers. However, a two-factor rotation (Internal/Emotional Balance and Social Interaction) produced results which should be of interest to programs treating batterers as well as provide a suggestive lead for future research. Battering men were found to have a restless proclivity for interaction that will be competitive and conflict-oriented in style. Their impulsiveness further suggests that their interactions will be negative in terms of evocation.     

The abortion-funding cases and population control: an imaginary lawsuit (and some reflections on the uncertain limits of reproductive privacy)

An imaginary lawsuit is discussed wherein the issues involved in public abortion-funding and population control are brought out. Issues raised are: 1) the public hospital's charter which authorizes "medically necessary" abortions; 2) the constitutionality of state action providing free medical treatment for indigent women seeking abortions but not providing free antenatal and childbirth services; and 4) the individual rights of privacy, due process of law, and equal protection under the law.     

Serving the State: Constitutionalism and Social Spending, 1860s-1920s

In the 19th century, courts supervised states' social spending by limiting taxation to public purposes. The focus of this article is the courts' approach to pensions. Under a 19th-century doctrine, states could pay money to those who had served the state or, under the rubric of charity, to those who were the indigent helpless. States first paid pensions to people for military service and for serving as firemen; later in the century, the doctrine from these cases provided a framework for expanding civil service pensions as states expanded their civil service. Courts characterized the earlier pensions as earned because the service had been dangerous, requiring bravery from men and possibly leaving helpless women and children without protection. This characterization later shaped evaluations of civil service pensions. The doctrine persisted as states enacted pensions for widowed mothers; when these pensions were challenged in state courts, the courts approved of them as payments to helpless people, not as rewards to those who had served. This characterization counters recent scholarship that argues that mothers' pensions rewarded service as military pensions did.     

The normative case for indigent defense systems

Today, every indigent person accused of a crime, where incarceration is a reasonably possible sentence, has the right to counsel apppointed by the State. From an historical perspective, this right is relatively new, since it has only evolved over the last 50 years and is the result of a variety of decisions by the Supreme Court of the United States. In essence, the States have developed three mechanisms to comply with these decisions: (1) Assigned Counsel Systems; (2) Contract Counsel Systems; and (3) Public Defender Systems. This paper (a) reviews the decisions applicable to indigents; (b) reviews existing indigent defense delivery systems; and (c) concludes that the independent State Public Defender Agency is the best system available from the perspectives of both the taxpayer and the defendant. In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him: to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence (U.S. Constitution, Amendment VI).     

Methadone in maintenance treatment of narcotic addicts; joint revision of conditions for use; interim maintenance treatment; human immunodeficiency virus disease counseling--FDA and SAMHSA. Final rule

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) formerly the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration (ADAMHA) are revising the conditions for the use of methadone in the maintenance treatment of narcotic addicts. The final rule allows, contingent on FDA and State approval, public and nonprofit private narcotic treatment programs to provide interim maintenance treatment to patients awaiting placement in comprehensive maintenance treatment and to require all narcotic treatment programs to provide counseling on preventing exposure to, and the transmission of, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease.     

Relationship Between Two Types of Help Seeking Behavior in Domestic Violence Victims

A coordinated community response system to the help-seeking behaviors of domestic violence victims is critical to minimize the impact of violent events and to educate the public, so that safe and effective conflict management skills may replace violent responses. The focus for the present study is to identify and analyze victims’ choices of law enforcement assistance in stopping the violence and/or aid through the services of the regional family violence center. Some victims select legal channels of support; others rely exclusively on social service support, and others seek assistance from both sources. Characteristics of victims whose cases followed two types of help-seeking behavior patterns—legal support or social support–were determined through archived data from both the records of a regional family violence center (FVC) (n=258) and domestic violence incident reports of a police department serving a city of approximately 200,000 citizens (n=127). Findings indicate that African American victims more frequently sought protection through law enforcement sources than they did through family violence center services, and the reverse was true for Euro-Americans.     

The Effects of Domestic Violence on Women's Employment

This article presents some results of a random household survey that examined the effects of domestic violence on the labor force participation of 824 women living in a low‐income neighborhood. It also uses data from twenty‐four long interviews.
Eighteen percent of the respondents reported having experienced physical aggression in the past twelve months, and 11.9% reported more severe physical violence. Women who reported abuse were more likely to have experienced unemployment and held more jobs and to report more health problems. They also had lower personal incomes, and were significantly more likely to receive public assistance. At the same time, women who reported abuse were employed in roughly the same numbers as those who did not. Thus, it appears that domestic violence may depress women's socioeconomic and occupational status attainment over time, but does not affect employment status per se.  The article concludes with comments about the implications of the findings for the redesign of public assistance and job training programs.     

Heroin maintenance in Britain and heroin for the relief of pain in the United States of America

SUMMARY

The British themselves have recognized that heroin may not be the safest and most appropriate form of treatment for heroin addicts. The percentage of narcotic addicts in Britain being treated with methadone alone has risen steadily from 58% (of 1,549 addicts) in 1971 to 67% (of 2,588 addicts) in 1981. Also, the percentage of narcotic addicts receiving heroin alone has dropped from 7.1% (of 1,549 addicts) in 1971 to 2.6% (of 3,844 addicts) in 1981. The amount of heroin prescribed to addicts also fell from 22,778 grams in 1969 to 8,501 grams in 1978.

Further increases in the use of oral methadone and sterile injectable methadone, and resulting decreases in unsterile injections of heroin, would no doubt greatly diminish the incidence of death and severe disability in the treatment of British addicts.

On the issue of heroin's use for intractable pain, there is no evidence that heroin has unique advantages over other drugs. When given in equivalent doses, morphine has been proven to be as effective as heroin, orally or subcutaneously, for the relief of pain. In fact, heroin is rapidly converted into morphine in the body. Given the fact that heroin is the drug most narcotic addicts prefer, legally stocking the drugs in pharmacies, hospitals, and hospices would pose serious security and personal safety risks at these facilities. It is possible, in fact, that most pharmacies would refuse to stock the drug.     

Need-efficiency trade-offs in the allocation of resources: Ideological and attributional differences in public aid decision making

We examined whether ideological differences influenced perceptions of the underlying causes of public aid applicants’ predicaments, and whether in turn ideology-patterned attributions accounted for how resource allocators prioritized need- and efficiency-related goals in allocating aid. To examine the need-efficiency trade-off, participants (N=112) divided a hypothetical pool of aid applicants for subsidized health insurance into two “incorrect” allocation outcomes: false alarms (allocate aid to unneedy applicants) and misses (deny aid to needy applicants). Moreover, to examine beliefs about the absolute percentage of aid applicants who are truly in need of societal assistance, participants divided the remaining aid applicants into two “correct” allocation outcomes: hits (allocate aid to needy applicants) and correct rejections (deny aid to unneedy applicants). Results of a series of structural equation models indicated that conservatism was linked to the causal belief that aid applicants’ predicaments arise from dispositional rather than situational factors, which in turn predicted a preference for making efficiency-related over need-related resource allocation judgments (e.g., preferring misses to false alarms) and the belief that a relatively small number of aid applicants are truly in need of societal assistance (e.g., preferring correct rejections to hits). Results are discussed in terms of how ideologically driven attributions influence the manner in which people resolve need-efficiency trade-offs inherent in the context of public aid decision making.     

“All the System is Simply a Soap Bubble”: Legal Help-Seeking for Domestic Violence Among Women in Kyrgyzstan

This paper examines limitations in how law enforcement and public health systems respond to domestic violence in Kyrgyzstan. Findings from interviews with domestic violence victims show that these women are subject to ineffectual practices and negative attitudes that tend to minimize domestic abuse and disempower victims. The findings reveal several problematic issues: inconsistencies in the implementation of the law, impunity for abusers because of both personal attitudes and social affinities between the police and abusers, ineffective enforcement of protective orders, and superficial processing of domestic violence cases by the legal system. Additional barriers to help-seeking include a lack of institutional support and guidelines for offering mental health services for victims as well as a scarcity of housing, childcare, and employment opportunities for women seeking to break the cycle of abuse. The findings underscore the need for society-wide changes in attitudes toward domestic violence, stricter mechanisms for enforcing the law, and mandatory training for service providers to facilitate the provision of more accessible and affirmative support to victims.     

Stereoselective analyses of selegiline metabolites: possible urinary markers for selegiline therapy

The stereoselective analysis of selegiline metabolites in human urine and plasma by gas chromatography using the chiral column with the non-chiral reagent was investigated for the differentiation of selegiline therapy from the methamphetamine (MA) abuse. This method gave clear separations of MA and amphetamine (AM) isomers without any artifactual optical-opposite peaks due to the reagent. After the administration of selegiline tablets, desmethylselegiline (DMS), MA and AM were observed as (−)-isomers in the urine and plasma. Within the first 48 h after dosing, approximately 40% of selegiline administered was excreted in urine as these three metabolites. The parent drug, selegiline, was not detected in any urine or plasma samples. On the other hand, MA and AM were observed only as (+)-isomers in the urine of MA abusers. For the distinction of selegiline users from street MA abusers in urinalysis, (−)-DMS, a specific metabolite of selegiline, was not a suitable marker. (−)-DMS rapidly disappeared from urine and was excreted only 1% of the given dose. By the moment analysis with the trapezoidal integration, the mean residence times of (−)-DMS in plasma and urine were 2.7 and 3.8 h, respectively, which were 5–20 times shorter than those of (−)-MA or (−)-AM. The values of AM/MA in the urine increased from 0.24 to 0.67 (r=0.857) along with time after the selegiline administration. This ratio was not a sufficient marker to differentiate selegiline users from MA abusers, although the values of AM/MA in 74% of MA abusers were less than 0.24. The present GC technique improved the chiral analyses of MA and AM. This chiral analysis is the most useful technique to avoid the misinterpretation in the discrimination between clinical selegiline therapy and illicit MA use.     

Applying the Theory of Reasoned Action to Domestic Violence Reporting Behavior: The Role of Sex and Victimization

Domestic violence is a serious social issue that affects one in every four relationships. Interventions for victims and abusers are contingent upon reporting of the violence, but many cases are never reported. The theory of reasoned action may offer a model for understanding reporting behavior in adolescents and young adults. In a sample of 891 adolescents and young adults, social norms and attitudes were predictive of reporting intentions and subsequently, reporting behavior. For the purposes of this study, reporting behavior was defined as reporting the domestic violence to any individual not directly involved, which could include law enforcement personnel or other individuals who may provide assistance. Understanding how attitudes and social norms affect reporting behavior could be helpful for agencies serving individuals affected by domestic violence.     

给付行政中心理援助制度的构建——基于失独家庭的人文关怀

我国对失独家庭实施的“计划生育家庭特别扶助制度”,系基于人文关怀理念而建立的行政救助制度.对失独家庭的救助,物质上的帮助和精神上的抚慰处于同等重要的地位,但我国的“计划生育家庭特别扶助制度”中却仅规定政府有给付扶助金的义务.基于生存权、公民公法上的受益权内涵的拓展,以及我国于5月1日施行的《精神卫生法》规定政府负有促进公众心理健康的义务,在行政救助中建立完整的、普适性的心理援助体系已成为法学界亟需解决的问题.由于心理援助与法律援助具有相似性,故应借鉴运行成熟的法律援助制度建立我国的心理援助制度,并注意心理援助制度的适用范围、启动方式、援助内容和当事人的信息保密等问题.     

Local Politics and the Provision of Indigent Defense Counsel*

In this study we examine the decisions of local governments regarding the form and funding of indigent defense programs. We draw theoretical propositions from the literature on state and local policy making, and we test these propositions using data from Georgia. We find that the provision of indigent defense counsel by local governments is influenced by both economic and political factors: by the wealth on which counties can draw for revenue, which produces interjurisdictional disparities; and by the political resources that interested parties can bring to bear on the policy process. These findings add to a growing body of literature that maps the relationships between trial courts and their political environments. The analysis may also have implications for the allocations of functional responsibilities among levels of governments.     

The reduction of male abusiveness as a result of treatment: Reality or myth?

A 6-month outpatient treatment program for male abusers emphasized honesty, shame reduction, and group support for change. Ratings on the Abusive Behavior Inventory (ABI) obtained before and immediately after treatment demonstrated a significant decrease in physical and psychological abuse as rated by both the abusers and their female partners. This decrease in male abusiveness was maintained 6 months and two years after completion of treatment for those couples who cooperated in followup. No decrease in male abusiveness was observed during treatment, however, for those couples who did not cooperate in the followup. The authors suggest that the noncooperative female partners may have been afraid to rate their partners because of continued abuse. Therefore, the selective attrition of subjects who did not improve is a major problem in evaluating the apparent long-term success of treatment.