Legal Deserts, Spatial Inequality, and Criminal Legal Systems: A Study from Rural Washington USA

This paper draws on a mixed methods study to sketch stresses on the criminal legal system in rural Washington, USA. It reveals how the dearth of attorneys available to do the work of prosecuting and defending cases is subjecting defendants to delays and leaving them vulnerable to ineffective assistance of counsel. Another stressor on the system is its heavy reliance on local governments to finance not only indigent defense, but also substantial portions of prosecutorial and judicial functions.

Rural lawyer shortages are typically associated with dwindling numbers of attorneys, which in turn typically correspond to overall population loss. Yet historical data suggest that the number of active attorneys in most rural Washington counties has grown in recent decades, commensurate with population growth. Thus, the problem we identify is specifically a shortage of attorneys equipped and willing to do indigent defense and prosecution work.

While shortcomings in indigent defense delivery nationally are widely documented, this paper reveals what those deficits look like in a rural context in which the constitutionally mandated service is often provided by relatively inexperienced attorneys subject to scant oversight. The paper also reveals new challenges arising from the fact that indigent defense attorneys increasingly live far from their clients and appear only remotely in the courthouses where their clients are. Deputy prosecutors, too, are increasingly absent from rural courthouses, appearing only by video feed.

Some of the stresses on these legal systems could be alleviated by increased funding from the state, which could be used to attract more attorneys to work in these roles in rural places. Meanwhile, with virtual appearances proliferating, safeguards to foster meaningful and confidential attorney-client communications are necessary.