Minor Crimes, Massive Waste
Minor Crimes, Massive Waste
The Terrible Toll of America¡¯s Broken Misdemeanor Courts
N A T I O N A L A SS O C I A T I O N O F C RI MI N A L D E F E N S E L A W Y E RS
April 2009
Supported in part by grants from the Open
Society Institute and the Ford Foundation.
C O P Y R I G H T ? 2 0 0 9 N AT I O N A L A S S O C I A T I O N O F C R I M I N A L D E F E N S E L A W Y E R S
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N A T IO N A L A SS O CIA T I O N O F
C R I M I N A L D EF E NS E L A W YE R S
1660 L Street NW, 12th Floor
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-872-8600; Fax: 202-872-8690
Minor Crimes, Massive Waste
The Terrible Toll of America¡¯s Broken Misdemeanor Courts
By
Robert C. Boruchowitz
Malia N. Brink
Maureen Dimino
JOHN WESLEY HALL
EDWARD A. MALLETT
President, NACDL
Little Rock, AR
President, FCJ
Houston, TX
NORMAN L. REIMER
KYLE O¡¯DOWD
Executive Director, NACDL
Washington, DC
Associate Executive Director
For Policy, NACDL
Washington, DC
NACDL Indigent Defense Committee
Rick Jones
Co-Chair
New York, NY
Anthony Cotton
Vice-Chair
Waukesha, WI
William Wolf
Co-Chair
Chicago, IL
E. Gerry Morris
Immediate Past-Chair
Austin, TX
Geneva Vanderhorst
Vice-Chair
Washington, DC
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABOUT THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYERS
ABOUT THE FOUNDATION FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION
...4
..............5
..............................6
...............................7
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
The Misdemeanor Courts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
The Volume of Misdemeanor Offenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Rights of Defendants in Misdemeanor Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Right to Counsel in Misdemeanor Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Why Are Lawyers Needed in Misdemeanor Cases? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Consequences of a Misdemeanor Conviction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
PROBLEMS IN MISDEMEANOR COURTS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Absence of Counsel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Uninformed Waiver of Counsel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Eligibility Limitations for Counsel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Conferring Directly with Prosecutors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Recommendations ¡ª Absence of Counsel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Deterrents to Asking for Counsel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Application Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Recommendations ¡ª Deterrents to Asking for Counsel . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Misdemeanor Caseloads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
The Meaning of the Caseload Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Excessive Caseloads Put Lawyers in Jeopardy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Recommendations ¡ª Excessive Caseloads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Why Are Misdemeanor Caseloads So High? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Overcriminalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Misdemeanor Indigent Defenders Take Brunt of Budget Shortages . . . . . . . 26
Minor Crimes, Massive Waste
Recommendations ¡ª Causes of Excessive Caseloads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Misdemeanor Defense in Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Meet and Plead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Denial of Bond/Inability to Make Bail and the Pressure to Plead . . . . . . . 32
Prosecutorial Pressure to Plead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Impact of Increased Collateral Consequences
on Misdemeanor Caseloads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Early Disposition Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Effect of Excessive Caseloads on the Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Recommendations ¡ª Misdemeanor Defense in Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3
Misdemeanor Defenders Lack Access to Support Services . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Recommendations ¡ª Lack of Support Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Inexperienced Counsel in Misdemeanor Courts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Lack of Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Lack of Supervision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Recommendations ¡ª Inexperienced Counsel
in Misdemeanor Courts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Lack of Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Recommendations ¡ª Lack of Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Inadequate Compensation for Defenders in Misdemeanor Courts . . . . . . 42
Recommendation ¡ª Inadequate Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Judicial Conduct in Misdemeanor Courtrooms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Disparate Treatment of Indigent Defendants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Judges Face Discipline for Not Honoring Right to Counsel . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Recommendations ¡ª Judicial Conduct in Misdemeanor Cases . . . . . . . . 45
Lawyer Burnout in Misdemeanor Courts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Recommendation ¡ª Lawyer Burnout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Disproportionate Effect on Minority Communities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Recommendations ¡ª Disproportionate
Impact on Minority Communities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
CONCLUSION
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
The Terrible Toll of America¡¯s Broken Misdemeanor Courts
Table of Contents
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