New report reveals that fairness and accuracy of the Tennessee criminal justice system is jeopardized by funding disparity
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
– A new report on prosecution and indigent defense funding in Tennessee has uncovered disturbing evidence of a significant and unfair imbalance of financial and other resources between the prosecution and indigent defense functions. The report is the first comprehensive analysis of indigent defense and prosecution resources in the state, and indicates that Tennessee's indigent defense system is in dire need of reform. The Spangenberg Group, one of the nation's leading experts on state criminal justice systems, authored the new study.
The report, Resources of the Prosecution and Indigent Defense Functions in Tennessee can be accessed online (pdf) along with a Summary Analysis (pdf) prepared by The Tennessee Justice Project, who commissioned the study.
The report finds that in fiscal year 2004-2005 (the most recent year for which extensive funding information is available), the defense function in indigent cases received only $56.4 million – less than half of the $130 million to $139 million the prosecution received. This disparity affects cases ranging from misdemeanors to death penalty cases.
Furthermore, when taking into account "in-kind" services provided to the prosecution function from various federal, county, and municipal law enforcement agencies and experts, prosecutors receive more than four times as many resources than are provided to indigent defense counsel. While these "in-kind" services cannot be quantified on a state-wide basis, they account for millions of dollars worth of assistance provided annually to prosecutors by local law enforcement agencies in 95 counties and hundreds of towns and cities throughout the state, as well as by federal law enforcement and forensic crime labs.
"This imbalance of resources creates an uneven playing field which ultimately leads to greater financial and human costs and reduced public confidence in the criminal justice system," said Bill Redick, Director of the Tennessee Justice Project. "When even the most capable and hard-working attorneys lack adequate resources to do their job, there is an increased risk that innocent people will be incarcerated, guilty people may never be prosecuted, and other defendants will receive unfairly excessive sentences."
As a result of the underfunding of defense services, too frequently, all that indigent defense counsel can do is "meet and plead" their clients because they lack the time or resources to visit crime scenes, interview witnesses, conduct necessary investigations and forensic testing, retain experts, and perform other tasks required for effective defense.
"To ensure a properly functioning criminal justice system, funding for indigent defense attorneys must be raised to a level that corresponds appropriately to the resources of the prosecution," said Bradley MacLean, a Nashville defense attorney and Assistant Director of The Tennessee Justice Project. "We are not suggesting a decrease in resources for the prosecution function. We are simply advocating for reasonable parity for indigent cases between the defense and the prosecution so that the defense counsel is included as an equal partner in the justice system."
In performing the study, the Spangenberg Group examined fiscal year 2004-2005 funding information from a variety of sources, including the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts; the District Attorney Generals' Conference; the Public Defenders' Conference; the Indigent Defense Fund; and other federal, state, county, and local governmental funding sources involved in indigent criminal prosecution and defense.
The Spangenberg Group further examined the findings of the report by utilizing two additional analyses:
- A "per unit" comparison between prosecution and defense in indigent cases, dividing the funds available for prosecution and defense annually by the total numbers of attorneys in the district attorneys' and public defenders' offices, respectively. According to this comparison, district attorneys receive financial resources equal to $379,000 per district attorney per year, and public defenders receive financial resources equal to only $182,500 per public defender per year, a ratio of more than two-to-one in favor of the prosecution. (This "per unit" comparison of resources does not account for the "in-kind" services that further skew the balance.)
- A report by the Tennessee Comptroller, FY2005-2006 Tennessee Weighted Caseload Study Update, which found that in order for Tennessee to meet previously-determined caseload standards for prosecutors and public defenders, the district attorneys need an additional 22 attorney positions while public defenders need an additional 123 attorney positions. (According to the Weighted Caseload Study, in fiscal year 2005-2006 there were 459 prosecutors and 309 public defenders in Tennessee.)
"In the course of over three decades conducting nationwide research on the financial resources furnished to the prosecution and the defense in indigent criminal cases, the findings in Tennessee are the most telling examples of disparity we have found," said the author of the report, Robert Spangenberg.
The Spangenberg Group is one of the nation's foremost research and consulting firms that specializes in the evaluation of state criminal justice systems. Robert Spangenberg has over 30 years experience in this field, and during the past 20 years The Spangenberg Group has worked in all 50 states, conducting comprehensive statewide studies of criminal justice systems in more than half of the states. The Spangenberg Group has conducted several criminal justice system studies in Tennessee, including a 1999 Tennessee Public Defender Case Weighting Study for the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury.
The report was commissioned by The Tennessee Justice Project, a nonprofit organization committed to increasing the fairness and accuracy of the Tennessee indigent criminal justice system, with a particular focus on the administration of the death penalty. In pursuit of this mission, The Tennessee Justice Project educates the public, media, and policymakers in Tennessee about the problems facing the state's criminal justice system and seeks necessary reforms.
Experts are also available to comment on the report, and interviews can be arranged through Laura Burstein at (202) 557-7584 or Katie Andriulli at (202) 557-7579.
