Criminal Justice Act — Judicial Business 2022

The Criminal Justice Act (CJA) provides funding for the representation of individuals with limited financial resources in federal criminal proceedings. In each district, a plan exists for providing representation through private panel attorneys and, where established, federal public or community defender organizations. This year, 82 federal defender organizations (65 federal public defender organizations and 17 community defender organizations) served 91 of the 94 federal judicial districts.

A total of 143,287 representations by counsel under the CJA were opened, a decrease of nearly 2 percent compared with last year. The reduction in representations has been attributed mainly to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sixty percent of all federal judicial districts had lower caseloads. Districts with large percentage decreases included the District of Guam (down 40 percent), the Eastern District of Arkansas (down 28 percent), and the Southern District of Indiana (down 27 percent). The largest percentage increases occurred in the Eastern District of Louisiana (up 42 percent), the Eastern District of Oklahoma (up 40 percent), and the Northern District of New York (up 29 percent). The caseload in the Eastern District of Oklahoma again exceeded historical norms because of the decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma, 591 U.S. ___, 140 S. Ct. 2452 (2020), which shifted the jurisdiction over many offenses involving Native Americans on reservation lands from state court to federal court. As a result, the federal defender organization that previously served both the Northern and Eastern Districts of Oklahoma was split in two so that each district now has its own federal defender organization.

Representations closed by the 82 federal public and community defender organizations (including representations in criminal matters, appeals, and habeas corpus proceedings) increased 2 percent from the previous year to 89,521. Representations closed by appointed panel attorneys decreased 1 percent to 59,985, mainly because of a decline in illegal entry immigration cases that began with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and continued thereafter; most of these cases involved misdemeanors and required relatively limited resources to adjudicate. As the impact of the pandemic created delays in closing cases and more representations were opened than closed, the backlog of representations to be adjudicated increased.

The number of private attorneys paid through the CJA panel attorney payment system was 7,165.

For a summary of federal defender appointments under the CJA for the past five years, see Table S-21. For information on representations for each federal public and community defender organization, see Table K-1.