Presenter(s)

Alicia A Linzmeier

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Description

This thesis will attempt to uncover whether or not public defense lawyers and private defense lawyers achieve the same or similar results for their clients facing serious felony charges in southwestern Ohio. The outcomes of interest are conviction rates, guilty plea rates, incarceration rates, and sentence lengths. Though people facing equally serious charges should receive roughly equal outcomes, this is not always the case. Existing literature suggests that some of the differences could be dependent on the type of lawyer that a defendant has, or whether or not he or she can afford to pay for his or her own representation. Other variables that could have an influence, such as age, gender, race, and number of prior felony convictions, will be controlled for in order to isolate the impact that representation has. This thesis examines whether the differences in outcome manifest themselves in three counties in southwestern Ohio by studying unclassified and first degree felony cases that have been filed since January 1, 2000.

Publication Date

4-5-2017

Project Designation

Honors Thesis - Undergraduate

Primary Advisor

Arthur J. Jipson

Primary Advisor's Department

Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work

Keywords

Stander Symposium project

The Promise of Justice: Are Public and Private Defense Equal?

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