Trials and Punishment

Trials

Statistics about the court system and its processes

• Race and Wrongful Convictions in the United States National Registry of Exonerations, University of Michigan Law School, March, 2017“Innocent black murder suspects, especially those who are falsely convicted…are additional victims of murders committed by others. Those who have been exonerated spent on average more than 14 years in prison before they were released.”
• Exonerations in 2016: The National Registry of Exonerations The National Registry of Exonerations, University of Michigan Law School, March, 2017“A record 94 exonerations in 2016 were cases in which no crime actually occurred.”
• Testing The Impact of Criminal Jury Instructions on Verdicts: A Conceptual Replication Columbia Law Review, March, 2017“Mock jurors who were instructed “not to search for doubt” but instead “to search for the truth” convicted at a significantly higher rate than mock jurors who were properly instructed on reasonable doubt.”
• Sentencing Outcomes in U.S. District Courts: Can Offenders’ Educational Attainment Guard Against Prevalent Criminal Stereotypes? Travis W. Franklin, Sam Houston State University, February, 2017“[C]ourt actors may be less concerned (or not at all concerned) with factors typically linked to perceptions of dangerousness (e.g., race, ethnicity, age, sex, detention status) when dealing with offenders of higher educational status.”
• Is Justice Really Blind? Race and Reversal in US Courts Journal of Legal Studies, July, 2016“[B]lack federal judges are consistently overturned on appeal more often than similar white judges.”
• America’s Top Five Deadliest Prosecutors: How Overzealous Personalities Drive the Death Penalty The Fair Punishment Project, June, 2016“There are more than 3,100 counties, 2,400 head prosecutors, and thousands of line prosecutors in America — yet only a tiny handful of prosecutors are responsible for a vastly disproportionate number of death sentences.”
• The Gavel Gap: Who Sits in Judgment on State Courts? American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, June, 2016“We find that courts are not representative of the people whom they serve — that is, a gap exists between the bench and the citizens.”
• The Heavy Costs of High Bail: Evidence from Judge Randomization Columbia Law School, May, 2016“Our estimates suggest that the assignment of money bail causes a 6 percentage point rise in the likelihood of pleading guilty, and a 4 percentage point rise in recidivism.”
• Criminal (In)justice: A Cost Analysis of Wrongful Convictions, Errors, and Failed Prosecutions in California’s Criminal Justice System The Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy, Berkeley School of Law, March, 2016“Criminal (In)justice examines 692 adult felony criminal cases where California missed the mark in public safety by failing to prosecute the right person or by pursuing a flawed or unsustainable conviction.”
• Prosecutorial Oversight: A National Dialogue in the Wake of Connick v. Thompson Innocence Project, March, 2016“There are almost no adequate systems in place to keep prosecutorial error and misconduct in check and, in fact, prosecutors are rarely held accountable even for intentional misconduct.”
• Exonerations in 2015 The National Registry of Exonerations, February, 2016“2015 set a record for exonerations in the United States – 149 that we know of so far, in 29 states, the District of Columbia, federal courts and Guam.”
• Snapshot of Indigent Defense Representation in Michigan’s Adult Criminal Courts Michigan Indigent Defense Commission, February, 2016“The first survey of indigent defense court systems is just one part of an extensive, multipronged data gathering strategy that the MIDC will use to initiate comprehensive system change.”
• Lethally Deficient: Direct Appeals in Texas Death Penalty Cases Texas Defender Service, 2016“Review by the U.S. Supreme Court was not sought in 34.6% of the cases surveyed, meaning that defense lawyers waived the first opportunity for federal review in more than a third of Texas death penalty cases decided on direct appeal between 2009 and 2015.”
• How Judicial Elections Impact Criminal Cases Brennan Center for Justice, December, 2015“The more frequently television ads air during an election, the less likely state supreme court justices are, on average, to rule in favor of criminal defendants.”
• Right to Counsel in Utah: An Assessment of Trial-Level Indigent Defense Services Sixth Amendment Center, October, 2015“Utah’s trial courts do not uniformly provide counsel to indigent defendants at all critical stages of criminal cases as required by the U.S. Supreme Court[.]”
• Debtors’ Prisons in New Hampshire ACLU of New Hampshire, September, 2015(In 2013 New Hampshire judges jailed people who were unable to pay fines and without conducting a meaningful ability-to-pay hearing in an estimated 148 cases.)
• Blackstrikes: A Study of the Racially Disparate Use of Preemptory Challenges by the Caddo Parish District Attorney’s Office Reprieve Australia, August, 2015“In short, over the course of a ten year period, Caddo parish prosecutors exercised peremptory challenges against black prospective jurors at more than three times the rate at which they exercised peremptory challenges against white prospective jurors.”
• Stuck in the ’70s: The Demographics of California Prosecutors Stanford Criminal Justice Center, July, 2015“Latinos are almost 39 percent of the population but only nine percent of California prosecutors.”
• Investigation of the St. Louis County Family Court St. Louis, Missouri Department of Justice, July, 2015“Black children are almost one-and-a-half times (1.46) more likely than White children to have their cases handled formally, even after introducing control variables such as gender, age, risk factors, and severity of the allegation.”
• Guilty Property: How Law Enforcement Takes $1 Million in Cash from Innocent Philadelphians Every Year — and Gets Away with It ACLU of Pennsylvania, June, 2015“Every year, Pennsylvania law enforcement agencies take roughly $14 million in cash, cars, and homes from property owners and never give it back.”
• The Summons Report: Trends in the Issuance and Disposition of Summonses in New York City John Jay College of Criminal Justice, April, 2015“Overall, summonses are on the decline. This decline is driven by lower issuance rates among 16-17-year-olds and 18-20-year-olds, mainly for disorderly conduct.”
• Don’t I Need A Lawyer? Pretrial Justice and the Right to Counsel at First Judicial Bail Hearing The Constitution Project, March, 2015“It describes the far-reaching and well-documented adverse effects of denying counsel at the earliest stages of a criminal prosecution, a situation that presents numerous constitutional concerns.”
• Trial Defense Guidelines: Representing a Child Client Facing a Possible Life Sentence Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, March, 2015“The objective of these guidelines is to set forth a national standard of practice to ensure zealous, constitutionally effective representation for all juveniles facing a possible life sentence.”
• Not Just a Ferguson Problem: How Traffic Courts Drive Inequality in California Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, March, 2015“As a result, over four million Californians do not have valid driver’s licenses because they cannot afford to pay traffic fines and fees.”
• A Prosecutor’s Guide for Advancing Racial Equity Vera Institute of Justice, March, 2015“Despite efforts to be fair and equitable, prosecutors may unintentionally contribute to the overrepresentation of minorities in the nation’s courtrooms, prisons, and jails.”
• Exonerations in 2014: The National Registry of Exonerations The National Registry of Exonerations, January, 2015“The National Registry of Exonerations has recorded 125 exonerations in 2014. The previous highest total was 91 in 2012.”
• Justice for All? Women Donors Network, 2015“95% of elected prosecutors are white. 85% of prosecutors run for election unopposed.”
• Defendant Remorse, Need for Affect, and Juror Sentencing Decisions Emily Corwin, Louisiana State Univeristy; Professor Robert Cramer, Sam Houston State University; Desiree Griffin, Southern Virginia Mental Health Institute; Professor Stanley Brodsky, University of Alabama, 2015“Incongruent verbal and nonverbal behavior, as well as mock juror willingness to approach emotional situations (i.e., high need for affect resulted in more lenient sentences for defendants.”
• Conviction Integrity Units: Vanguard of Criminal Justice Reform Center for Prosecutor Integrity, December, 2014“In regard to exonerations, the nine CIUS are credited with 61 exonerations.”
• Public Safety – Municipal Courts Better Together, October, 2014“This means that the municipal courts in the St. Louis region accounted for 46% of all fines and fees collected statewide, despite being home to only 22% of Missourians.”
• Skewed Justice: Citizens United, Television Advertising and State Supreme Court Justices’ Decisions in Criminal Cases Emory Law School; American Constitution Society, October, 2014“In a state with 10,000 ads, a doubling of airings is associated on average with an 8 percent increase in justices’ voting against a criminal defendant’s appeal.”
• Federal Prosecution for the 21st Century Brennan Center for Justice, September, 2014“The report proposes reorienting the way prosecutors’ “success” is measured around three core goals: Reducing violent and serious crime, reducing prison populations, and reducing recidivism.”
• State Government Indigent Defense Expenditures, FY 2008-2012 – Updated Bureau of Justice Statistics, July, 2014“In 2012, state governments spent $2.3 billion nationally on indigent defense.”
• Indigent Defense Services In The United States, FY 2008-2012 – Updated Bureau of Justice Statistics, July, 2014“It provides both direct and intergovernmental indigent defense expenditures of state governments for fiscal years 2008 through 2012, and presents some local government expenditures aggregated at the state level.”
• Race and Prosecution in Manhattan Vera Institute of Justice, July, 2014(Blacks and Latinos were particularly likely to be held in pretrial detention for misdemeanor person offenses, followed by misdemeanor drug offenses. Blacks and Latinos were also most likely to have their cases dismissed for misdemeanor drug offenses.)
• It’s Not Just Ferguson: Missouri Supreme Court Should Consolidate the Municipal Court System Arch City Defenders, July, 2014(This paper examines six municipalities in St. Louis County and offers a series of reforms, including the consolidation of St. Louis County’s 81 municipal courts into a single regional court system.)
• Automatic Adult Prosecution of Children in Cook County, Illinois.2010-2012 Juvenile Justice Institute, April, 2014“Illinois should restore authority over whether a child under 18 should be tried in adult criminal court to juvenile court judges. This will bring Illinois in line with the majority of states, and will ensure better outcomes…”
• Rate of False Conviction of Criminal Defendants Who are Sentenced to Death University of Michigan Law School, March, 2014“The rate of exonerations among death sentences in the United States is far higher than for any other category of criminal convictions.”
• Redefining Indigence: Financial Eligibility Guidelines for Assigned Counsel National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, March, 2014“A defendant making just above 125 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines receives federal assistance to pay for food, heat and medical care for their children but is somehow not regarded by some states as too poor to hire a lawyer.”
• The Crucible of Adversarial Testing Access to counsel in Delaware’s criminal courts Sixth Amendment Center, February, 2014“As such, it is our opinion that Delaware triages justice to the detriment of a large number of defendants that come before its criminal and family courts.”
• Assessing Judicial Sentencing Preferences After Public Safety Realignment: A Survey of California Judges Stanford Criminal Justice Center, January, 2014“Our study finds that 57% of judges preferred to give an 1170(h) sentence over a felony probation sentence, except when the hypothetical contains information about the offender’s substance abuse or mental illness.”
• Prosecution and Racial Justice in New York County Technical Report Vera Institute of Justice, January, 2014(For all offenses combined, compared to similarly-situated white defendants, black and Latino defendants were more likely to be detained, to receive a custodial plea offer, and to be incarcerated; but they were also more likely to benefit from dismissals.)
• The New Normal? Prosecutorial Charging in California After Public Safety Realignment Stanford Criminal Justice Center, January, 2014“As for specific substantive conclusions, the undramatic one is that most charging or recommendation preferences remain consistent with traditional severity factors and do not manifest major alterations in light of AB 109.”
• An Offer You Can’t Refuse How US Federal Prosecutors Force Drug Defendants to Plead Guilty Human Rights Watch, December, 2013“In 2012, the average sentence of federal drug offenders convicted after trial was three times higher (16 years) than that received after a guilty plea (5 years and 4 months).”
• State Court Organization, 2011 Bureau of Justice Statistics, November, 2013“From 1980 to 2011, the number of state trial court judges increased 11%, from 24,784 to 27,570 (figure 1). During the same period, the U.S. population increased 37%, and arrests in the U.S. increased 19%.”
• Race, Justifiable Homicide, and Stand Your Ground Laws: Analysis of FBI Supplementary Homicide Report Data Urban Institute, July, 2013“Regardless of how the data are analyzed, substantial racial disparities exist in the outcomes of cross-race homicides. In addition, the recent expansion of Stand Your Ground laws in two dozen states appears to worsen the disparity.”
• Turning Migrants Into Criminals: The Harmful Impact of US Border Prosecutions Human Rights Watch, May, 2013“But the prosecutions of illegal entry offenses happening today are overbroad… and are thus draining resources that could go to efforts to increase public safety and create a more secure, efficient, and humane immigration system.”
• Missouri: Justice Rationed An Assessment of Access to Counsel and Quality of Juvenile Defense Representation in Delinquency Proceedings National Juvenile Defender Center, April, 2013“Missouri’s indigent defense system is in crisis and has suffers crushing caseloads and inadequate resources. The system remains broken and forced to ration services, and youth are discouraged from and systematically denied counsel throughout the state.”
• The National Registry of Exonerations: Update 2012 National Registry of Exonerations, April, 2013“For all exonerations, the most common causal factors that we have identified are: perjury or false accusation (52%); official misconduct (43%); and mistaken eyewitness identification (41%).”
• Gideon at 50: Three Reforms to Revive the Right to Counsel Brennan Center for Justice, April, 2013“Recommendations include: legalizing some petty offenses or reclassifying them into non-jailable civil infractions; increase funding for public defense; Increase effectiveness by funding regular trainings for attorneys and adding social workers.”
• Rationing Justice: The Underfunding of Assigned Counsel Systems — A 50-State Survey of Trial Court Assigned Counsel Rates National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, March, 2013“A combination of low hourly rates, fee limitations and the use of flat fees discourages attorneys from providing zealous representation and can give rise to serious conflicts of interest.”
• The National Institute of Justice’s Evaluation of Second Chance Act Adult Reentry Courts: Program Characteristics and Preliminary Themes from Year 1 National Institute of Justice, March, 2013“Characteristics common across most NESCAARC sites include the emphasis on post-release service delivery, relevant services, case management, court hearings for the purpose of monitoring progress, drug testing, and a team approach to decision-making.”
• Pretrial Detention And Misconduct In Federal District Courts, 1995-2010 Bureau of Justice Statistics, February, 2013“The number of defendants with cases disposed in federal district courts more than doubled from 45,635 in 1995 to 100,622 in 2010.”
• Improving Discovery in Criminal Cases in Texas: How Best Practices Contribute to Criminal Justice Texas Appleseed, February, 2013“Witness statements are often crucial to the evaluation and defense of a criminal case. While most states require pre-trial disclosure of witness statements or lists, Texas does not.”
• Raising the Age of Juvenile Court Jurisdiction The future of 17-year-olds in Illinois’ justice system Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission, February, 2013“Adding 17-year-old misdemeanants to the juvenile justice system in 2010 did not crash it. In fact, due to a sharp decline in juvenile crime, there are currently fewer juvenile arrests than when the General Assembly began debating the change in 2008.”
• National Indigent Defense Reform: The Solution is Multifaceted National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, January, 2013“The report discusses 1) front-end reform, 2) the delivery of services, including the importance of standards and commissions, and 3) the need for collaboration and cooperation with others within and outside the criminal justice system.”
• In Search of Racial Justice: The Role of the Prosecutor New York University Journal of Legislation and Public Policy, 2013“…one of every three African American males born today can expect to go to prison in his lifetime, as can one of every six Latino males. One of every eighteen African American females and one of every forty-five Hispanic females face a similar fate.”
• An Epidemic of Prosecutor Misconduct Center for Prosecutor Integrity, 2013“An analysis by the Northern California Innocence Project found out of 707 cases of court-identified misconduct, only six prosecutors (fewer than 1%) were disciplined by the State Bar.”
• The Anatomy of Discretion: An Analysis of Prosecutorial Decision Making Vera Institute of Justice, December, 2012“While prosecutorial discretion is generally seen as very broad and unconstrained, prosecutors often rely on a fairly limited array of legal and quasi-legal factors to make decisions, and are further constrained by several contextual factors.”
• Pretrial Release and Misconduct in Federal District Courts, 2008-2010 Bureau of Justice Statistics, November, 2012“About half (51%) of defendants with no prior arrest history were released pretrial, compared to 34% of defendants with 2 to 4 prior arrests and 21% of defendants with more than 10 prior arrests.”
• For Better or for Profit How the Bail Bonding Industry Stands in the Way of Fair and Effective Pretrial Justice Justice Policy Institute, September, 2012“With the personal liberty of accused people held by a profit-driven private industry, for-profit bail bonding is systemically prone to corruption, criminal collusion, and the use of coercion against bonded people.”
• Post-Conviction DNA Testing and Wrongful Conviction Urban Institute, Justice Policy Center, June, 2012
• Do Race and Ethnicity Matter in Prosecution? A Review of Empirical Studies Vera Institute of Justice, June, 2012“Most of the 34 studies reviewed here suggest that defendants’ or victims’ race directly or indirectly influence case outcomes, even when a host of other legal and extra-legal factors are taken into account.”
• Report of Findings: (investigation of allegations of national origin discrimination) Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice, March, 2012“…AOC policy does not provide interpreters in child custody hearings; child support hearings, civil no-contact order 50C proceedings, foreclosures, and divorce proceedings”
• Adult Criminal Justice Case Processing in Washington, DC Urban Institute, February, 2012“For every 150 arrests for a felony in the District, 100 have formal charges filed, 53 result in a conviction, 16 result in prison, and 4 result in a”
• A Stubborn Legacy: The Overwhelming Importance of Race in Jury Selection in 173 Post-Batson North Carolina Capital Trials Michigan State University College of Law, 2012“Over the twenty-year period we examined, prosecutors struck eligible black venire members at about 2.5 times the rate they struck eligible venire members who were not black.”
• A Constitutional Default: Services to Criminal Defendants in Pennsylvania Joint State Government Commission, General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, December, 2011(A study of the Commonwealth’s indigent defense system concluded that the Supreme Court’s mandate of free counsel has been ignored by the General Assembly and is not being fulfilled in Pennsylvania.)
• Forensic DNA Database Expansion Growing Racial Inequities, Eroding Civil Liberties and Diminishing Returns Generations Ahead, November, 2011“Given the existing racial bias in other aspects of the criminal justice system, we need to ensure that DNA databases do not unfairly and disproportionately affect communities of color.”
• Appeals Of Civil Trials Concluded In 2005 Bureau of Justice Statistics, October, 2011“The trial court verdict or judgment was fully or partly reversed in 35% of civil appeals decided on the merits.”
• When Treatment is Punishment The Effects of Maryland’s Incompetency to Stand Trial Policies and Practices Justice Policy Institute, October, 2011“Too many people found not competent to stand trial are unnecessarily locked in a secure setting for treatment and, on average, confined for longer periods than research demonstrates is clinically reasonable.”
• Crisis in the Courts Defining the Problem American Bar Association, August, 2011“[T]he Legal Services Corportation Budget for FY2011 was reduced an additional 3.8% half way through that budget cycle, even as the number of Americans eligible for civil legal aid was pushed by the Recession to an all-time high of 57 Million.”
• System Overload The Costs of Under-Resourcing Public Defense Justice Policy Institute, July, 2011“In state-based public defender offices, 15 of the 19 reporting state programs exceeded the maximum recommended limit of felony or misdemeanor cases per attorney.”
• Juvenile Court Statistics 2008 US Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, July, 2011“Drug offense case rates increased dramatically for all age groups between 1991 and 1998: 229% for juveniles ages 10–12, 165% for youth ages 13–15, 146% for 16-year-olds, and 148% for 17-year-olds.”
• State Prosecutors’ Offices with Jurisdiction in Indian Country, 2007 Bureau of Justice Statistics, June, 2011“Seventy-three percent of offices with jurisdiction in Indian country reported prosecuting at least one felony case committed in Indian country.”
• Punitive Damage Awards In State Courts, 2005 Bureau of Justice Statistics, March, 2011“Punitive damages were awarded in 700 (5%) of the 14,359 trials where plaintiffs prevailed.”
• Overview of Federal Criminal Cases Fiscal Year 2011 United States Sentencing Commission, 2011“Immigration cases continued to be the fastest growing segment of cases in the federal system. In fiscal year 2011, there were 29,717 immigration cases reported to the Commission, an increase of 1,213 cases from the prior fiscal year.”
• Predicting Erroneous Convictions: A Social Science Approach to Miscarriages of Justice Jon B. Gould, Julia Carrano, Richard Leo, Joseph Young, 2011“Results indicate that 10 factors help explain why an innocent defendant, once indicted, ends up erroneously convicted rather than released.”
• State, County and Local Expenditures for Indigent Defense Services Fiscal Year 2008 American Bar Association, November, 2010“This report provides a description of each state’s indigent defense delivery system, the total indigent defense expenditure in fiscal year 2008, and the system’s funding structure.”
• Preventable Error A Report on Prosecutorial Misconduct in California 1997 – 2009 Northern California Innocence Project, Santa Clara University School of Law, October, 2010“[This report] is the most comprehensive, up-to-date, quantitative and actionable study on the extent of prosecutorial misconduct in CA, how the justice system identifies and addresses it, and its cost and consequences, including [wrongful convictions].”
• County-Based And Local Public Defender Offices, 2007 Bureau of Justice Statistics, September, 2010(About three-quarters (73%) of county-based public defender offices exceeded the maximum recommended limit of cases received per attorney in 2007.)
• State Public Defender Programs, 2007 Bureau of Justice Statistics, September, 2010(Fifteen state programs exceeded the recommended number of felony and misdemeanor cases per attorney.)
• Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2006 Bureau of Justice Statistics, May, 2010“About a fourth of felony defendants were charged with a violent offense in 2006.”
• Tort Bench and Jury Trials in State Courts, 2005 Bureau of Justice Statistics, November, 2009“In the nation’s 75 most populous counties, the number of tort trials declined by about a third between 1996 and 2005.”
• Contract Bench and Jury Trials in State Courts, 2005 Bureau of Justice Statistics, September, 2009“Contract trials in 2005 most commonly involved an individual suing a business (33%), followed by a business suing another business (25%).”
• Drug Courts: A Review of the Evidence Sentencing Project, April, 2009“An analysis of research findings from 76 drug courts found a 10% reduction in rearrest.”
• Minor Crimes, Major Waste: The Terrible Toll of America’s Broken Misdemeanor Courts National Association of Criminal defense Lawyers, April, 2009“…literally millions of accused misdemeanants, particularly those unable to hire private counsel, and disproportionately people of color, routinely are denied the due process to which the Constitution entitles them.”
• Civil Bench and Jury Trials in State Courts, 2005 Bureau of Justice Statistics, October, 2008“The total number of civil trials declined by over 50% from 1992 to 2005 in the nation’s 75 most populous counties.”
• State Court Processing of Domestic Violence Cases Bureau of Justice Statistics, February, 2008“Prosecuted domestic sexual assault defendants had a higher overall conviction rate (98%) than prosecuted non-domestic sexual assault defendants (87%).”
• State Court Organization, 1987-2004 Bureau of Justice Statistics, October, 2007“The report examines changes in the organization and operations of the Nation’s state trial and appellate courts [from 1987-2004].”
• Felony Sentences in the United States, 1994 Bureau of Justice Statistics, July, 2007“Between 1992 and 1994 the number of felony convictions decreased 2% in State courts and 5% in Federal courts.”
• An Analysis of the Performance of Federal Indigent Defense Counsel National Bureau of Economic Research, June, 2007“The federal indigent defense system relies on both salaried government workers… and hourly-wage earning court-appointed private [CJA] attorneys…. Defendants with CJA … attorneys are… more likely to be found guilty and… receive longer sentences.”
• Resources of the Prosecution and Indigent Defense Functions in Tennessee The Spangenberg Group (commissioned by the Tennessee Justice Project), June, 2007“[I]ndigent prosecution funding is between two and two-and-a-half times greater than indigent defense funding.”
• Evaluating Fairness and Accuracy in State Death Penalty Systems: The Florida Death Penalty Assessment Report American Bar Association, September, 2006“[R]esearch establishes that many Florida capital jurors do not understand their role and responsibilities when deciding whether to impose a death sentence.”
• State Court Organization, 2004 Bureau of Justice Statistics, August, 2006
• Prosecutors in State Courts, 2005 Bureau of Justice Statistics, July, 2006“Most prosecutors (95%) relied on State operated forensic laboratories to perform DNA analysis, with about a third (34%) also using privately operated DNA labs.”
• Appeals from General Civil Trials in 46 Large Counties, 2001-2005 Bureau of Justice Statistics, June, 2006
• A Report on Pre- and Post-Katrina Indigent Defense in New Orleans Southern Center for Human Rights, April, 2006“More than six months after Katrina, a majority of [indigent defendants] remain behind bars, where they have languished on average for over a year without any communication with a defense attorney.”
• Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2002 Bureau of Justice Statistics, February, 2006“Eighty-two percent of defendants were male, including 90% or more of those charged with rape (99%), a weapons offense (96%), murder (93%), or robbery (90%). The percentage of female defendants increased from 14% in 1990 to 18% in 1998…”(Presents data collected from a representative sample of felony cases filed in the Nation’s 75 largest counties during May 2002.)
• Federal Tort Trials and Verdicts, 2002-03 Bureau of Justice Statistics, July, 2005
• Childhood on Trial The Failure of Trying and Sentencing Youth in Adult Criminal Court Coalition for Juvenile Justice, 2005“Overview of report that identifies the public safety and rehabilitative failures of our nation’s widespread”
• Tort Trials and Verdicts in Large Counties, 2001 Bureau of Justice Statistics, November, 2004
• United States Sentencing Guidelines 2004: An Experiment That Has Failed American College of Trial Lawyers, September, 2004
• Civil Trial Cases and Verdicts in Large Counties, 2001 Bureau of Justice Statistics, April, 2004
• Medical Malpractice Trials and Verdicts in Large Counties, 2001 Bureau of Justice Statistics, April, 2004
• In Defense of Public Access to Justice: An Assessment of Trial-Level Indigent Defense Services in Louisiana 40 Years After Gideon National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, March, 2004
• Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2000 Bureau of Justice Statistics, December, 2003
• Montana An Assessment of Access to Counsel and Quality of Representation in Delinquency Proceedings American Bar Association Juvenile Justice Center, October, 2003
• Judicial Democracy Council of State Governments, October, 2003(trends in judicial elections)
• Washington: An Assessment of Access to Counsel and Quality of Representation in Delinquency Proceedings American Bar Association Juvenile Justice Center, October, 2003
• North Carolina: An Assessment of Access to Counsel and Quality of Representation in Delinquency Proceedings American Bar Association Juvenile Justice Center, October, 2003
• Juvenile Court Statistics 1999 Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, June, 2003
• Youth in Court Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, June, 2003
• Felony Sentences in State Courts, 2000 Bureau of Justice Statistics, June, 2003
• Justice in Jeopardy: Report of the American Bar Association Commission on the 21st Century Judiciary American Bar Association, June, 2003
• Breaking the Rules: Who suffers when a prosecutor is cited for misconduct? Center for Public Integrity, June, 2003(includes online database of cases)
• Juvenile Felony Defendants in Criminal Courts: Survey of 40 Counties, 1998 Bureau of Justice Statistics, May, 2003
• Report on Racial and Gender Bias in the Pennsylvania Judicial System Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, March, 2003
• If you cannot afford a lawyer…: A report on Georgia’s failed indigent defense system Southern Center for Human Rights, February, 2003
• Assembly Line Justice: Mississippi’s Indigent Defense Crisis NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, February, 2003
• State Court Prosecutors in Small Districts, 2001 Bureau of Justice Statistics, January, 2003
• Unlocking the Future: Detention Reform in the Juvenile Justice System Coalition for Juvenile Justice; Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2003“Juvenile court jurisdictions… needlessly sweep into locked detention many young people with mental health, substance abuse and family problems – most of whom are 15 years or younger, nonviolent, and disproportionately youth of color.”
• Common Sense Says… That people on Death Row often had the state’s worst lawyers at trial. Common Sense Foundation, October, 2002“More than one in six current death row inmates was represented at trial by lawyers who have been disciplined by the North Carolina State Bar”
• Prosecutors in State Courts 2001 Bureau of Justice Statistics, May, 2002“Number of full-time prosecutors grows in nation’s State court systems”
• Public Funding of Judicial Elections: Financing Campaigns for Fair and Impartial Courts Brennan Center, 2002
• Prisoner Petitions Filed in U.S. District Courts, 2000: With Trends, 1980-2000 Bureau of Justice Statistics, December, 2001(Pages 2 and 3 track how Congress has cut prisoner’s access to the courts)
• State Court Prosecutors in Large Districts, 2001 Bureau of Justice Statistics, December, 2001
• State Court Sentencing of Convicted Felons, 1998 Statistical Tables Bureau of Justice Statistics, December, 2001
• Federal Criminal Case Processing, 2000: With trends 1982-2000 Bureau of Justice Statistics, November, 2001
• Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 Bureau of Justice Statistics, November, 2001“36% of felony defendants detained prior to case disposition”
• State-Funded Indigent Defense Services, 1999 Bureau of Justice Statistics, September, 2001
• Federal Criminal Appeals, 1999, with Trends 1985-99 Bureau of Justice Statistics, April, 2001“Describes the increase in the appellate caseload as a result of challenges to the sentence imposed.”
• Muting Gideon’s Trumpet: The Crisis in Indigent Criminal Defense in Texas Committee on Legal Services to the Poor on Criminal Matters, February, 2001
• Defense Counsel in Criminal Cases Bureau of Justice Statistics, November, 2000“Two of three felony defendants represented by publicly-financed counsel”
• Promises to Keep: Achieving Fairness and Equal Justice for the Poor in Criminal Cases Southern Center for Human Rights, November, 2000
• Indigent Defense Services in Large Counties, 1999 Bureau of Justice Statistics, November, 2000
• State Court Organization 1998 Bureau of Justice Statistics, June, 2000
• Prosecuting Juveniles in Adult Court An Assessment of Trends and Consequences Sentencing Project, January, 2000
• Elected Judges and the Death Penalty in Texas: Why Full Habeas Corpus Review by Independent Federal Judges Is Indispensable to Protecting Constitutional Rights Stephen B. Bright, 2000
• Death in Texas: Not even a pretense of fairness Stephen Bright, Southern Center for Human Rights, July, 1999(This article appeared in The Champion.)
• Neither Equal Nor Just: The Rationing and Denial of Legal Services to the Poor When Life and Liberty Are at Stake Stephen B. Bright, 1999
• Juvenile Felony Defendants in Criminal Courts Bureau of Justice Statistics, September, 1998
• Can Judicial Independence be Attained in the South? Overcoming History, Elections, and Misperceptions About the Role of the Judiciary Stephen B. Bright, July, 1998
• Youth Prosecuted in State Criminal Court Bureau of Justice Statistics, March, 1997
• Indigent Defense Bureau of Justice Statistics, February, 1996
• Federal Habeas Corpus Review: Challenging State Court Criminal Convictions Bureau of Justice Statistics, September, 1995(samples cases in 18 courts in 9 states)
• Spouse Murder Defendants in Large Urban Counties Bureau of Justice Statistics, May, 1995
• Judges and the Politics of Death: Deciding Between the Bill of Rights and the Next Election in Capital Cases Stephen B. Bright, 1995
• Counsel for the Poor: The Death Sentence Not for the Worst Crime but for the Worst Lawyer Stephen B. Bright, May, 1994