An Investigation of Indigent Defense Systems: Public Defenders vs. Private Court Appointed Attorneys

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) Graduate Research Fellowship program provides awards to accredited universities for doctoral research that uses criminal justice data or statistical series and focuses on crime, violence, and other criminal justice-related topics. BJS invests in doctoral education by supporting universities that sponsor students who demonstrate the potential to complete doctoral degree programs successfully in disciplines relevant to the mission of BJS, and who are in the final stages of graduate study.

Under this award, University of California Berkeley doctoral student Yotam Shem-Tov will complete the dissertation project, "An Investigation of Indigent Defense Systems: Public Defenders vs. Private Court Appointed Attorneys.”

Final deliverables under the award include: (1) An official signed copy of the doctoral student’s defended dissertation. If the applicant institution permits, a copy of the dissertation may be archived at the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS). If the dissertation cannot be archived at NCJRS, a link to the work must be made available on the BJS website. BJS requires students who receive funds under the BJS Graduate Research Fellow Program to archive their dissertation data at the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) at the University of Michigan. (2) A publishable-quality 20- to 30-page summary of the dissertation that, at a minimum, includes synopses of a) relevant literature and previous research b) discussion of the research questions or hypotheses that guided the research c) the methodology employed, including a thorough discussion of all data used and any dataset linking or merging methods d) analytical techniques used e) key findings derived from the analysis f) major conclusions or recommendations emanating from the project, including those that may address BJS data quality issues. (3) An in-person presentation based on the completed dissertation at the Office of Justice Programs in Washington, D.C., to be arranged by BJS in consultation with the doctoral student and dissertation chair. Other progress reporting (e.g., semiannual progress reports and quarterly fiscal) are also required. (CA/NCF)

Note: This project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in applicable law.