NCJ Number
91076
Date Published
1983
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This study found that private counsel were more likely than public defenders to obtain the most favorable disposition available (deferred disposition), but public defenders were more successful in securing charge reductions through plea negotiations.
Abstract
Data on 2,600 cases were drawn from felony criminal case filings in Denver District Court for 5-month periods for 1974-77. The sample included the seven major offense categories of felony charges filed most often in Denver. The study focused on plea bargaining operationalized as charge bargaining. The favorability of the plea bargaining outcome for the defendant was measured by deferred disposition (the most favorable negotiated outcome) and the magnitude of the charge reduction. The independent variables included those factors, besides type of counsel, frequently found by the case disposition literature to be influential: age, sex, race, education, employment, bond status, prior record, and status at the time of the offense. Sixty percent of the sample were represented by public defenders, 10 percent by court-appointed counsel, and 30 percent by private counsel. Compared to the clients of publicly supported attorneys, the clients of privately retained attorneys were most likely to be white, with a high school education or better, no prior record, able to get pretrial release, and to be charged with drug violations rather than robbery or burglary; however, even with these advantageous client characteristics, privately retained attorneys did not consistently obtain the most lenient outcomes in the dependent measures examined. Overall, the findings suggest that neither the critics nor advocates of public defender services have an unambigouous case regarding the quality of defense services provided in plea bargaining. Tabular data and 45 references are provided.