Bureau of Justice Statistics Survey of Publicly Appointed Defense Attorneys: Design Study Report

“This report was produced by the Urban Institute, Indigent Defense Research Association, and National
Association for Public Defense for the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) under award number 2016-R2-CXK032. BJS had funded design work for a survey of attorneys providing criminal defense to indigent
defendants under a solicitation called the Survey of Public Defenders: A Design Study. The project was
later renamed to accurately reflect the potential respondents. This report describes the development
work and cognitive testing for the survey instrument and addresses the challenges of identifying the
appropriate universe, sampling, and nonresponse issues. It is based on work completed between 2016
and 2018.”