TY - JOUR
T1 - Attorney–Client Communication in Public Defense
T2 - A Qualitative Examination
AU - Moore, Janet
AU - Plano Clark, Vicki L.
AU - Foote, Lori A.
AU - Dariotis, Jacinda K.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank our partner public defense and reentry agencies for making this project possible, and research participants for talking with us. Alex Barengo, Rachel Freeman, Julia Holton, Daenayia Hudson, Audra Morrison, and Christina Rogers provided invaluable research assistance. We are grateful to Andrew L. B. Davies, Jon Gould, Lauryn Gouldin, Anna Roberts, and Marla Sandys for feedback on previous drafts of this manuscript. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported in part by a grant from the University of Cincinnati Research Council.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2019.
PY - 2020/7/1
Y1 - 2020/7/1
N2 - This article presents a qualitative research approach to exploring attorney–client communication in an urban public defense system. The study drew upon procedural justice theory (PJT), which emphasizes relationships between satisfaction with system procedures and compliance with system demands. Interpretive analysis of interview data from 22 public defense clients revealed four major themes. PJT accounted well for three themes of communication time, type, and content, highlighting relationships between prompt, iterative, complete communication, and client satisfaction. The fourth theme involved clients exercising agency, often due to dissatisfaction with attorney communication. This theme was better accommodated by legal consciousness theory, which emphasizes that diverse experiences with law include manipulation and opposition alongside compliance. Implications for policy and research are discussed.
AB - This article presents a qualitative research approach to exploring attorney–client communication in an urban public defense system. The study drew upon procedural justice theory (PJT), which emphasizes relationships between satisfaction with system procedures and compliance with system demands. Interpretive analysis of interview data from 22 public defense clients revealed four major themes. PJT accounted well for three themes of communication time, type, and content, highlighting relationships between prompt, iterative, complete communication, and client satisfaction. The fourth theme involved clients exercising agency, often due to dissatisfaction with attorney communication. This theme was better accommodated by legal consciousness theory, which emphasizes that diverse experiences with law include manipulation and opposition alongside compliance. Implications for policy and research are discussed.
KW - client perspectives
KW - communication
KW - legal consciousness theory
KW - procedural justice theory
KW - public defense
KW - qualitative research
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85070361661&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85070361661&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0887403419861672
DO - 10.1177/0887403419861672
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85070361661
SN - 0887-4034
VL - 31
SP - 908
EP - 938
JO - Criminal Justice Policy Review
JF - Criminal Justice Policy Review
IS - 6
ER -