Increasingly, public defender offices are bringing social workers in-house. As part of a growing interest in holistic defense, these offices are relying on social workers to assist with the representation of their clients in a variety of ways. Social workers can locate housing, find appropriate treatment for substance use disorder or mental illness, and improve client communication by building trust and sensitivity to clients’ needs. This work may support the presentation of mitigation evidence at sentencing, and beyond that, break cycles of involvement with the criminal justice system.
North Carolina is in the midst of a major, legislatively-funded expansion of its public defender system. The School’s Criminal Justice Innovation Lab is supporting NC Indigent Defense Services by evaluating the implementation of social work positions in public defender offices to learn more about the ways the inter-professional collaboration functions, how social work positions are structured, and common benefits and challenges of using social work staff.
During this work, a question has arisen on several occasions: how should the inter-professional defense team navigate a situation, such as learning of child abuse, where mandatory reporting laws require notification to the local department of social services (DSS) or law enforcement? Should social workers comply with state statutes and follow their own ethical code by making a report? Or does the attorney’s obligation to keep client confidences and provide effective assistance of counsel “trump” the social worker’s duty to report?
Last month, I published a bulletin addressing this dilemma. The bulletin begins with some foundational concepts: (1) the roles of social workers in public defender offices, (2) the basics of mandatory reporting, and (3) the fundamentals of privilege and confidentiality. Next, the bulletin explores the dilemma by examining various ethical opinions, attorney general opinions, and other sources of authority. Although the dilemma is not easily resolved, the bulletin concludes with potential steps defenders can take to address the dilemma or avoid it in the first place.
The bulletin can be found here. I would appreciate any feedback based on your experiences in the field or otherwise. You can email me at spiegel@sog.unc.edu or leave comments below.