UC researchers fight for a better criminal defense system

Janet Moore, Professor of Law at UC College of Law, has spent her career fighting to improve the criminal defense system in the United States. Concerns about what she felt was the “low bar set for public defense performance and how little power indigent defendants had to push that bar higher” led Moore to research and publish her first study, which examined clients’ perceptions of their public defenders. Using quantitative and qualitative data from clients in Hamilton County, it was one of the first studies to ask un-incarcerated clients about their experiences.

Despite a majority of clients being satisfied, troubling themes surfaced concerning public defenders’ performance. And Moore wanted to know more. This quest led to a follow-up study, the results of which were published this summer in the first peer-reviewed journal to focus a symposium issue on empirical research in public defense.

Moore and research colleagues Jacinda K. Dariotis and Vicki L. Plano Clark published their scholarly article “Attorney-client communication in public defense: A qualitative examination” in a special issue of Criminal Justice Policy Review; it was one of seven papers included. In addition, Moore guest-edited the edition.

The group was able to complete their work with the help of a $25K University of Cincinnati interdisciplinary grant.

Read more about what they learned and their hopes for how these findings could reform the criminal justice system.

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