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Cost per case at Dallas Public Defender much lower than private attorneys

Over at the Dallas Observer's blog, Unfair Park, Robert Wilonsky links to this 2005 "feasibility analysis" (pdf) from the Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense regarding creation of a PD offices in Texas that specifically compares the savings Dallas County enjoys because of it's PD office to the cost of hiring private attorneys (see Table 2, p. 10):In 2005 according to these data, the attorney cost per felony case at the public defender office was $303.04 per case, compared with $544.62 per case for private attorneys handling indigent clients. For misdemeanors, the average cost per case at the PD office was a paltry $65.86 in 2005 compared with $118.94 for private counsel.All told, found the report, the total savings from using the PD office instead of private appointed attorneys would have been $7...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on June 13, 2008 (boomark / email).