Brockton District Court Probation Department's Indigency Determination Process for State-Sponsored Legal Services

This is a state audit of how Brockton District Court handled requests for state-paid legal help from people who said they could not afford a lawyer.

“The objective of our work at each district court was limited to determining the extent to which probation staff in these courts were complying with their mandated responsibility established by Chapter 211D to ensure that a defendant claiming to be indigent meets the definition of indigence.”

If the court does not verify eligibility, public money meant for people who cannot afford lawyers may be spent without enough proof that recipients qualify.

“As a result of these conditions, there is inadequate assurance that all of the state-sponsored legal counsel services that the BDC provided to 4,945 defendants during fiscal year 2010 were appropriate.”

For taxpayers and residents, the issue is whether public funds for court-appointed lawyers are being used properly and fairly.

“As a result of these conditions, there is inadequate assurance that the funding provided to the CPCS to retain public counsel for the 4,945 individuals deemed indigent by the BDC in fiscal year 2010 was appropriately spent.”

The audit's bottom line is that Brockton's probation office was not doing enough verification and did not keep all required paperwork.

“Our audit found that, contrary to the requirements of Chapter 211D of the Massachusetts General Laws, the BDC Probation Department does not routinely conduct verifications of information provided to it by defendants in order to ensure that these defendants are indigent and entitled to receive state-sponsored legal representation.”

The auditors recommended that Brockton District Court's Probation Department immediately follow the law, create written procedures, and strengthen controls over eligibility checks and recordkeeping.

“In order to address our concerns relative to this matter, we recommend that the BDC Probation Department take measures to immediately comply with all the requirements of Chapter 211D of the General Laws.”

This matters because the audit found weak safeguards in a process affecting thousands of defendants and public legal-service dollars at Brockton District Court.

“During this same period, the BDC provided legal counsel services to 4,945 of these individuals determined to be indigent by the BDC Probation Department.”

"Indigent" means someone who meets legal standards showing they cannot afford counsel, such as receiving certain public benefits, having very low income, being in certain facilities, or being jailed or imprisoned with no available funds.

“Rule 3:10, Section 1, of the Supreme Judicial Court defines an indigent person as an individual who is:”