The GIDEON Project
Overview
The GIDEON Project (Gauging Improvement in Defense Efforts and Outcomes in New York) is the first study of its kind in the United States. It aims to understand the impact of a recent and massive funding injection into indigent defense systems across New York State.
The settlement of the Hurrell-Harring lawsuit in 2015 required New York to reduce public defender caseloads, improve defense quality, and provide counsel at a defendant’s first appearance in court in five counties. In 2018, the state legislature dedicated additional funding to support equivalent reforms statewide.
State funding in support of the reforms now tops hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Using data from courts, defender offices, and individual attorneys, the GIDEON Project examines its impact.
Key Dates
2015
Settlement of Hurrell-Harring, et al. vs. State of New York, et al. Five counties benefit.
2018
Statewide legislation provides equivalent support to counties statewide.
Project Details
The GIDEON Project takes a multi-method approach to assessing the impact of the funding injection that followed the settlement of the Hurrell-Harring lawsuit. The data that Deason Center researchers are collecting will allow them to assess whether the funding reduced attorney caseloads, changed how attorneys advocated for their clients, and changed the dispositions and sentences clients received.
Documenting the reality of the reform
The research team has conducted more than one hundred interviews and surveys of indigent defense lawyers, and has reviewed grant reports and other archival materials. These materials show how local decision-makers used funds to accomplish mandated changes while adapting to local conditions.
Tracking changes in attorney practice
Working closely with indigent defense service providers in four counties, Center researchers have reviewed data from indigent defense service provider systems. These data record changes in the resources available to attorneys, and the advocacy provided to clients, as the funding started to flow.
Monitoring the decisions that change clients’ lives
The Center has obtained large extracts of data from New York State agencies including the Office of Court Administration and the Office of Indigent Legal Services. These data will support detailed analyses of the impact of the reform, right down to the decisions judges made in each defendant’s case.
Research Questions
The project will collect data to track changes in indigent defense as resource levels increase, and is guided by four research questions:
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Did the Hurrell-Harring funding injection change what judges decided about defendants and their cases?
Using statistical methods that will support causal inference, the research team will assess whether outcomes like bail decisions, case dispositions, and sentences changed as the funding increased.
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Did defense lawyers change the services they provided to their clients?
The Center’s researchers will compare activities such as investigation, client communication, and motions practice before and after the funding was received.
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How did local context change the impact of a funding injection?
Leaders in each county indigent defense system were responsible for implementing local reform. How did their choices differ qualitatively, and what was the impact of those choices?
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Did the professional lives of lawyers change?
The project’s data will show how lawyers themselves described the changes in their work as resources increased.
Resources
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This article describes forthcoming reforms to indigent defense systems in the state of New York and interviews state leaders about their expectations of those reforms. Conceptualizing defense service quality in terms of “public value,” we offer new theoretical and empirical strategies to explore how increasing resources impact the quality of defense services. The article lays the groundwork for an assessment of the reforms' impact and identifies key metrics to track. This is the first publication of the Deason Center’s Gauging Improvement in Defense Efforts and Outcomes in New York (GIDEON) project.
GIDEON Project Team
Dr. Andrew Davies
Research Director
Caitlin Charles
Research Specialist
Katie Becker
Project Coordinator
Carlos Sanchez
Research Assistant