Survey of Public Defenders Supplement

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OJP is committed to advancing work that promotes civil rights and racial equity, increases access to justice, supports crime victims and individuals impacted by the justice system, strengthens community safety and protects the public from crime and evolving threats, and builds trust between law enforcement and the community. The proposed fiscal year 2022 Survey of Public Defenders Supplement (SPDS) award will provide funding from July 1, 2022 to January 31, 2023 to assess office reimbursement strategies, conduct data quality analysis on pilot data, and compile a final report summarizing all recommendations for full implementation. The SPDS aims to collect national-level estimates of public defender workload, access to litigation and support resources, and compensation. The original award covered (1) revision of the sampling plan proposed in the Survey of Publicly Appointed Defense Attorneys: Design Study, (2) development of web-based office-level and defender-level surveys, and (3) a pilot test of the survey examining response rates using different outreach strategies. Statutory Authority: Under section 302 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act, BJS is authorized to "make grants to, or enter into cooperative agreements or contracts with public agencies, institutions of higher education, private organizations, or private individuals" for purposes of collecting and analyzing criminal justice data and producing reliable statistics under 34 U.S.C. § 10132(c) (1).

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