A state watchdog said the commonwealth’s public defense system “is broken, expensive and resistant to oversight.”
In a new report, Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro found that public defenders aren’t taking on enough cases to meet the Legislature’s mandate — and haven’t for at least the last decade. He argues that’s created a threat to public safety.
Many private attorneys contracted by the state to represent poor clients — known as bar attorneys — went on a work stoppage last year to demand higher wages. The Committee for Public Counsel Services, which oversees public defenders, declined to take on many cases, saying they were stretched too thin. It led to more than 2,000 hearings, 1,600 dismissed cases and 200 defendants released without bail.
“I don’t have a good answer to a crime victim or witness who sees an alleged perpetrator released,” Shapiro told GBH News. “I’m not sure who has a good answer for them on why that happened and why their rights are any less important than anyone else’s.”
Shapiro said CPCS staff attorneys are required to take on 20% of cases with indigent clients. If they met their mandated caseload, he said last year’s spate of releases could have been avoided.
“I hope from this report [it gives] clarity to the Legislature that CPCS is not carrying out their mandated requirement,” Shapiro told GBH News.
Private attorneys, also known as bar advocates, handle about 80% of the state’s indigent client caseload.
Wednesday’s report finds that CPCS attorneys have lower caseloads than any comparable statewide public defender system, including Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont.
But the agency’s head pushed back on the inspector general’s findings, particularly the idea that Massachusetts’ public defense system is “broken.”
“We strongly disagree with that characterization,” CPCS Chief Counsel Anthony Benedetti said in a statement to GBH News. “The system is operating under sustained and well-documented pressure that has built over time as caseloads have increased, cases have become more complex and resources have not always kept pace with demand.”
Looking at caseload numbers alone can’t accurately reflect if representation is “constitutionally effective or whatever quality representation is actually being delivered,” Benedetti added.
CPCS staff attorneys currently handle less than 16% of new indigent cases statewide. Benedetti said his agency is preparing a comprehensive response to the report in the coming weeks.
Shapiro said the state’s public defender system is one of the most expensive in the nation, with the report finding that each new case taken costs $2,752. The cost is $1,200 in Connecticut, $1,900 in New Hampshire and $2,500 in Vermont according to the report.
The public defender system has been in flux in recent months as many bar advocates refused to take on new cases since May 2025. Last summer, state lawmakers raised the hourly pay for bar advocates by $20 over two years, with a $10 increase last year and another $10 increase this August.
That raises the pay for district court cases to $85 an hour and $140 an hour for murder cases. By comparison, the hourly rate for bar advocates in Maine is $158; in New Hampshire, it’s between $125-$150; and in Rhode Island, the range is $112-$142, according to research by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.
The report says that increasing bar advocates’ hourly pay won’t fix the underlying issues in the state’s public defense system.
While Shapiro said bar advocates should get a higher hourly rate, he also believes there needs to be a limit on how many hours they can spend on a single case.
“That’s the only way to incentivize them to take more cases,” Shapiro said. “The current system doesn’t incentivize them in any way to take on more cases, which is the root of the problem that we have.”
Shapiro said that more accountability is needed from CPCS as well as mandated caseload increases for its staff and screening to ensure that public funds are reserved for needy defendants.
The inspector general’s report recommends that CPCS increase its caseload by reevaluating its internal expectations to ensure it meets the 20% benchmark and improve retention among bar advocates.
Shapiro said it’s up to the Legislature how they will act on CPCS failing to meet its 20% goal, but urged lawmakers to hold the agency accountable for consistently missing that mark.
Being responsible with taxpayers’ dollars doesn’t clash with the constitutional right to counsel, he argued in his report.
“Throwing more dollars at it won’t solve the problem,” Shapiro told GBH News. “What it will do is what we have seen before… a work stoppage when the bar advocates feel like enough is enough.”
