NCJ Number
157124
Date Published
1995
Length
72 pages
Annotation
The U.S. General Accounting Office conducted a study to collect data on reasons that the Federal Defender Services workload has grown faster than the district court criminal caseload, on causes of increased Defender Services workload and costs, on comparative costs of representations provided by Federal defender organizations and private attorneys directly assigned by Federal judges, and on additional costs resulting from paying higher standard hourly rates to private court-appointed attorneys.
Abstract
The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOUSC) has maintained that the overall workload of the Federal Defender Services has grown and costs increased because criminal cases (particularly drug-related cases) now involve more defendants, more defendants apply for and receive court-appointed attorneys, more defendants are being tried in Federal court, and cases are more complex due to changes in Federal sentencing guidelines. The GAO was not able to determine to what extent these factors individually or collectively accounted for the doubling of the overall program or the tripling of Death Penalty Resource Center (DPRC) costs over the past four years. This is because AOUSC collected little consistent, national empirical data that could be used in statistical analyses. To improve data collection, the GAO recommended that AOUSC create an analysis office within its Defender Services Division, develop case weights and work measurement formulas and improve available analytical data, assess the impact of Federal sentencing guidelines on program costs, and improve audit processes. 8 figures, 3 tables, and 4 appendixes