Data and Research: Public Defense Services Design & Funding
The Indigent Defense Improvement Division (IDID) gathers data on the provision of public defense in California, as well as other metrics such as funding and staffing for defense providers and prosecution.
Through a comprehensive analysis of available state and county budgets, grant documents, and stakeholder survey responses, IDID has identified and catalogued state-administered funding available to either prosecution or public defense in California. The findings demonstrate significant state investment in local prosecution without corresponding investment in local public defense, contributing to longstanding disparities in funding.
County Level Data
By statute, counties in California are granted the sole authority to design and fund their public defense services. Survey data collected by IDID indicates that delivery of public defense services in California can be classified across three types of systems:
- A Public Defender Office
- A contract model
- A managed assigned counsel model
Currently, twenty-four counties in California do not have an institutional public defender’s office and instead rely on contract-based systems. Counties without institutional public defender offices are predominantly small or rural and tend to have higher incarceration rates.
As each county is responsible for funding their public defense system, IDID collected budgetary data from the California State Controller’s Office and self-reported staffing data from counties with an institutional public defender office from the California Department of Justice to assess parity in funding and staffing for public defense and prosecution.
To supplement these data, IDID also collected court statistics on case filings and dispositions from the Judicial Council of California.
Instructions: Hover over the map below for information on the public defense delivery system for each county and corresponding incarceration rates. Click on a county on the map to filter for county-specific data (if applicable). Click the county again to return all values to their original statewide setting. If you accidentally zoom in on the map, click on the home icon to reset the zoom function to default settings. See the table below for county-specific criminal case filing and disposition data.
