New Report on the Use of Social Workers in NC Public Defender Offices

Last month, the School of Government’s Criminal Justice Innovation Lab released a new report evaluating the implementation of social work positions in North Carolina public defender offices. This report is the culmination of an eighteen-month partnership between the Lab and the Office of Indigent Defense Services (IDS) to learn more about the day-to-day function of social workers, explore the benefits and challenges of integrating social work staff, and develop recommendations for other offices interested to add or expand social work capacity. This post summarizes the findings from the implementation evaluation and the accompanying recommendations. Participating Offices & Data Collection North Carolina has twenty-seven public defender offices, eight of which currently employ social work staff. Seven of the eight offices participated in the implementation evaluation (Figure 1). These seven offices serve twenty-one counties and represent significant geographic, economic, and demographic variation. Figure 1. Map of Participating Public Defender Offices with Defender District Numbers Data collection for the project involved conducting interviews, administering satisfaction surveys, creating “tracking logs” to record the daily tasks of social work staff, and reviewing key documents. The largest source of data was the interview component. Across the seven offices, we conducted fifty-seven interviews with Chief Public Defenders, social workers, and other staff. Highlights from the Implementation Evaluation The full findings from the implementation evaluation begin on page nine of the report. Some key takeaways include: The day-to-day operation of social work staff varies significantly by office. Offices have tailored the role of social work staff to meet their [...]