Staff to present JLARC with study results on legal counsel for indigent defendants in Virginia

In November 2022, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) directed staff to review a variety of topics related to the state’s obligation to provide counsel to indigent defendants.

Virginia uses a hybrid system to provide defense attorneys to indigent defendants. Twenty-eight public defender offices provide defense counsel in 56 localities. The state also pays private attorneys, who are appointed by the court, to provide defense counsel in parts of the state without a public defender office.

JLARC also directed staff to review staffing and compensation for the 120 commonwealth’s attorney offices, who prosecute crimes on behalf of the state.

The study team interviewed and surveyed judges, public defenders and court-appointed attorneys. The team reviewed a recently completed evaluation of commonwealth’s attorney workload and worked with the National Center for State Courts to estimate public defender workload. The team analyzed case outcomes in the last 10 years to evaluate the defense provided by privately retained and court-appointed attorneys and public defenders, and reviewed compensation of public defenders, court-appointed attorneys and commonwealth’s attorneys.

JLARC will meet Monday, November 13, 2023, in Senate Room A in the General Assembly Building to hear staff present findings and recommendations from the study. Commission members will also hear a report from JLARC’s Topic Selection Subcommittee, a presentation on staff’s annual economic development incentives report, updates on the Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA), and a briefing on legislative and agency actions taken on JLARC’s study recommendations in the last four years.

JLARC is responsible for providing ongoing evaluation of the state’s economic development incentives. Each year, JLARC produces a report on the collective impact of Virginia’s economic development incentives. JLARC contracts with the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service to help with the evaluations.

JLARC has ongoing oversight of VITA, which provides IT services to Virginia’s executive branch agencies.  The Commission will hear an update from both JLARC staff and VITA Chief Information Officer Robert Osmond.

The meeting will begin at 1 p.m. in Richmond, and will be accessible live on the Senate’s video streaming page and posted to JLARC’s YouTube channel at the conclusion of the meeting. The report and presentations will be uploaded to JLARC’s website after the meeting.

JLARC was established by the legislature to evaluate the operations and performance of state agencies and programs. The commission comprises 14 members of the General Assembly and the Auditor of Public Accounts as an ex-officio member. JLARC employs a full-time staff to carry out research founded on four principles: integrity, rigor, objectivity and nonpartisanship.