Giving Compass' Take:

• Research from the RAND Corporation highlights the benefits of the holistic defense model deployed in the Bronx over the past decade. 

• How can funders work to improve and scale up this solution? What are the limiting factors that may prevent scaling? 

• Learn how to make an impact on criminal justice reform. 

Holistic defense first emerged in the 1990s as a new paradigm for legal representation of indigent clients. In contrast to the traditional public defense model, with its emphasis on criminal representation and courtroom advocacy by a single lawyer, the holistic defense model is based on the idea that to be truly effective advocates for their clients, defenders must adopt a broader understanding of the scope of their work.

To this end, defenders must address not only the immediate case at hand but also the enmeshed, or collateral, legal consequences of criminal justice involvement (such as loss of employment, public housing, custody of one’s children, and immigration status) and the underlying life circumstances and nonlegal issues that so often play a role in driving clients into the criminal justice system in the first place (such as drug addiction, mental illness, or family or housing instability).

Holistic representation requires an interdisciplinary team that includes not just criminal defense lawyers and related support staff (investigators and paralegals) but also civil, family, and immigration lawyers, as well as social workers and nonlawyer advocates—all working collectively and on an equal footing with each other.

Proponents of the holistic defense model argue that addressing clients’ underlying needs in this way improves case outcomes and potentially even reduces future crime; skeptics contend that diverting resources and attention from criminal advocacy leads to worse case outcomes. Despite the fact that the holistic defense method has been embraced in many jurisdictions, prior to this study there was virtually no systematic evidence demonstrating the relative merits of the holistic approach. A persistent problem for researchers has been isolating the contribution of holistic representation from the myriad of other factors operating in communities and courts that inform what

Key findings:

  • Over a ten-year study period, holistic representation in the Bronx prevented more than 1 million days of incarceration.
  • Holistic defense reduced the likelihood of a prison sentence by 16 percent—and actual prison-sentence length by 24 percent.
  • Holistic representation of clients saved taxpayers an estimated $160 million in inmate housing costs alone.
  • Despite higher pre- and post-trial release rates, ten years after case resolution, defendants who received holistic representation committed no more crime than those who were incarcerated for longer periods.
  • Holistic defense can significantly reduce incarceration and save taxpayer dollars—without harming public safety.