“Fighting the good fight”: why do public defenders remain on the job?

In this article, we ask why public defenders remain on the job despite a number of unique and testing work-related challenges. To answer this question, we analyze original data collected through 87 semistructured interviews with public defenders from government, nonprofit, and appointed counsel syst...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Baćak, Valerio (Author) ; Lageson, Sarah Esther (Author) ; Powell, Kathleen (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2020
In: Criminal justice policy review
Year: 2020, Volume: 31, Issue: 6, Pages: 939-961
Online Access: Volltext (Publisher)
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Keywords:
Public defenders
work motivations
indigent defense
Description
Summary:In this article, we ask why public defenders remain on the job despite a number of unique and testing work-related challenges. To answer this question, we analyze original data collected through 87 semistructured interviews with public defenders from government, nonprofit, and appointed counsel systems across the United States. Participants explicated a set of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations salient to their decision to remain in public defense: interacting with clients, defending the Constitution, fighting social inequality, pursuing personal values, appreciating camaraderie with colleagues, and earning public sector benefits. We discuss how our findings relate to prior research, identify directions for future studies, and tentatively engage policy implications.
ISSN:1552-3586
DOI:10.1177/0887403419862317