Stress & Public Criminal Defense: Comparing Male & Female Defender Experiences and Coping Strategies

Price
This presentation discusses the findings from a study that focused on stress and coping strategies among public defenders, and particularly compared the experiences of male and female defenders. As frontline workers, critical to the due process of law, understanding and eradicating stress is essential to their well-being and the fair treatment of defendants. Employing thematic analysis of public defenders’ responses to open-ended questions, this study found gendered differences in how male and female defenders described their work motivations, challenges, and strategies for dealing with stress. Both male and female public defenders confront the stresses of injustice and heavy workloads. Female defenders, however, are more likely to experience gender discrimination and disrespect and the added stress of family and parenting responsibilities. Emotion-focused and recovery coping strategies were adopted far more often by public defenders than problem-focused approaches, but male defenders expressed psychologically detaching from work far more often than female defenders. The differences in male-female defender experiences and coping strategies and policy solutions for public defender stress are discussed.
Alisa Smith, J.D., Ph.D. is a Professor of Legal Studies at the University of Central Florida, and a retired assistant public defender. Her research interests include the study of the misdemeanor courts, the right to counsel, and the role of discourse in framing and maintaining power.T he goal of her life’s work as a former public defender and academic has been to improve the criminal legal system, particularly for the indigent.