Does raising indigent defender pay rates improve defendant outcomes? Evidence from New York

Beginning 1 January 2004, the rates paid to assigned counsel – private attorneys who defend the indigent in criminal cases when a public defender does not – were raised from a maximum of $40 per hour to $75 per hour in the state of New York. This article examines the extent to which this relatively large pay increase affects case outcomes. Efficiency wage theory would suggest paying workers higher rates can improve their productivity, and the results of this analysis are consistent with this. Using a difference-in-difference approach, I find that after the assigned counsel rate increase, case outcomes significantly improved in counties with higher poverty rates relative to those with lower poverty rates. The likelihood of conviction and the likelihood of pleading guilty both fell by more than two percentage points in high-poverty counties compared to low-poverty counties after the rate increase, and the differences in the likelihood of being convicted are especially pronounced for cases involving violent felonies. The results suggest raising assigned counsel rates can be an effective policy tool to improve indigent defence systems that are in need of reform.