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Using New York City as a research model, this study explores the organizational, tactical, and ethical challenges of providing zealous advocacy for every convicted indigent wishing to appeal. David Wasserman, a former staff attorney with New York's Legal Aid Society, examines the unique form of representation that has emerged since the Supreme Court recognized the right to free appellate counsel, and details the conflict between the role of assigned appellate counsel and the demands of an overcrowded and underfunded criminal justice system. As the first study of indigent criminal appellate representation in the United States, this work brings a neglected form of legal service into the mainstream of criminal justice policy analysis.
The book is divided into three parts. Through the use of existing research and commentary, Part I analyzes the impact of the Supreme Court's Douglas v. California decision on the appellate courts and representation and on the organization of defense services. Part II offers an empirical study of criminal appeals in New York City, addressing such issues as the quality and impact of appellate defenders and the division of the indigent caseload. In Part III, Wasserman discusses the implications of this research in relation to the analysis of indigent defense developed in Part I, and considers measures for improving the quality of assigned appellate counsel. The work concludes with an appendix listing suggestions for further reading. This study, which provides the only available information on criminal appellate dispositions in New York City, will be an important resource for courses in law and social science, criminal justice, and appellate or trial practice. It will also be useful to the criminal justice community, particularly to public defender and legal aid groups, and appellate judges and their staffs.
List of contents
Foreword by James B. Jacobs
Preface
Indigent Appellate Representation in the Quarter Century After Douglas: Challenges and ConstraintsThe Right to Assigned Appellate Counsel and the Transformation of Criminal Appeals
An Introduction to Criminal Appeals and First-Level Appellate Review in New York
Indigent Appellate Defense in New York City
An Empirical Study of the Performance of New York City's Two Appellate DefendersA Qualitative Evaluation of New York City's Appellate Defenders
Criminal Appellate Dispositions in New York City, 1980-1985
Selection Bias and the Assignment Process: An Alternative Explanation for Outcome Differences Between the Defenders
The Character of Appellate Intervention in Criminal Cases and the Role of Appellate Advocacy
The Continuing Challenge of Criminal Appellate Representation: Improving Quality, Conserving Resources and Broadening ImpactConflicts of Interest and Indigent Appellate Defense
Improving the Quality of Indigent Appellate Representation in Conflict Cases
Enhancing the Impact of Criminal Appellate Representation: Conserving Appellate Reources for More Meritorious Cases
Increasing the Impact of Indigent Appellate Representation
Appendix: Suggestions for Further Research
Selected Bibliography
Index
About the author
DAVID T. WASSERMAN is a Research Scholar with the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, located at the University of Maryland, and a former staff attorney with the criminal appeals bureau of the New York Legal Aid Society. His articles have appeared in a number of legal journals, including
Philosophy and Public Affairs,
North Carolina Central Law Journal, and
Maryland Law Review.
