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

This is a Massachusetts State Auditor review of how Lawrence District Court checked whether defendants qualified as indigent before receiving state-paid legal help.

“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.”

The court was included because the auditor was reviewing public counsel services statewide and selected 27 district courts for testing.

“The Lawrence District Court (LDC) was one of the 27 courts selected for our review.”

If eligibility is not checked, public money for court-appointed lawyers may go to people who do not qualify.

“As a result of these conditions, there is inadequate assurance that the funding provided to the CPCS to retain public counsel for the 5,099 individuals deemed indigent by the LDC in fiscal year 2010 was appropriately spent.”

For taxpayers and court users, this is about whether the state has basic safeguards so free legal services reach people who truly qualify.

“During this same period, the LDC provided legal counsel services to 5,099 of these individuals determined to be indigent by the LDC Probation Department.”

The department lacked written procedures, did not routinely verify defendants’ financial information, and did not keep required records properly.

“We also found that, contrary to the requirements of Chapter 211D of the General Laws, the 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 auditor recommended that the Lawrence probation office immediately follow the law, create written procedures, and improve internal controls and recordkeeping.

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

The finding is significant because the problem affected a court that handled thousands of state-paid legal counsel assignments, and the auditor said the court could not provide adequate assurance those services were proper.

“Accordingly, there was inadequate assurance that the LDC Probation Department performed the required verification of the information provided by clients who applied for and received state-sponsored legal services.”

“Indigent” means someone poor enough, or otherwise financially unable, to qualify for a state-paid lawyer under court rules. CPCS is the state agency that provides those lawyers, while probation staff are supposed to check eligibility.

“Chapter 211D charges the CPCS with the responsibility of providing legal counsel services to indigent persons entitled to representation by law.”