Evaluation of North Carolina’s Defender Fee System
Overview
The Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution establishes the right to counsel for individuals accused of violating the law. Upholding this principle, the Supreme Court decision Gideon v. Wainwright requires states to provide legal representation to people who cannot afford to hire a lawyer in criminal proceedings. However, in more than 40 states, people who invoke their right to court-appointed counsel are subject to public defense fees to defray the cost of representation.
North Carolina is 1 of 17 states whose public defense fee system includes up-front and back-end assessments. That is, in addition to an application fee assessed when counsel is appointed, people who are found guilty also face recoupment fees up to the full cost of their representation. If they are unable to pay, civil judgments are entered against them, with 8 percent interest compounded annually. Preliminary analyses indicate that the initial collection for a person who owes defender fees in North Carolina comes 11 years after conviction, and that the payment may be remitted through a tax or lottery intercept. As is the case in 23 other states, revenue from recoupments funds a portion of the operating budget of the Office of Indigent Defense Services, the agency responsible for the provision and oversight of legal representation to people with low incomes who are entitled to counsel.
To assess the operations and effects of North Carolina’s defender fee system, MDRC has partnered with the Office of Indigent Defense Services and the Center for Justice Innovation to conduct a cost study. MDRC will compare the revenue collected by the system with the costs to the state and localities of administering it. This analysis will provide stakeholders with a benefit-cost ratio (that is, amount spent to collect $1 in fees). The research team will also use the financial data gathered to estimate the costs of alternative scenarios, which will be shared with stakeholders as they contemplate adjustments to existing practices.
Additional Project Details
Agenda, Scope, and Goals
The evaluation poses the following research questions:
- What are the current policies and practices related to defender fee recoupment in North Carolina?
- What are the annual state- and county-level costs associated with assessment, recoupment, and collection practices?
- How much is collected from defender fee recoupment annually?
- How do the costs compare with the collections?
Design, Sites, and Data Sources
To address the first research question, MDRC will conduct a policy and practice scan in addition to interviews with staff members from the state and localities administering the defender fee system. The remaining research questions will be addressed through a cost analysis, relying on financial and administrative data provided by the North Carolina Office of Indigent Defense Services, the Department of Adult Correction, and the Department of Revenue. Additional scenario analyses may be performed to examine how changes in practices might affect net revenue.
