The Yale Law Journal

Paul Heaton

Essay

How Much Difference Does the Lawyer Make? The Effect of Defense Counsel on Murder Case Outcomes

James M. Anderson & Paul Heaton

 
122 Yale L.J. 154 (2012).

One in five indigent murder defendants in Philadelphia is randomly assigned representation by public defenders while the remainder receive court-appointed private attorneys. We exploit this random assignment to measure how defense counsel affect murder case outcomes. Comp…