A Case for Social Workers as Investigators in Public Defender Offices

Bibliographic Data

ID10552876
AuthorsAmy L Hurd (corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume68
Issue3
Pages212-221
Publication date2023-05-04
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Work (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0037-8046 • E-ISSN: 1545-6846
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/sw/swad019
PMID37141493
OpenAlexW4368342585
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited11

Social workers play a critical role in modern public defender offices, whether performing mitigation work for pretrial negotiations and sentencing hearings or helping clients to secure access to basic human needs. Although social workers have held in-house positions in public defender offices since at least the 1970s, their service is largely limited to mitigation practice and traditional social work. This article raises an opportunity for social workers to broaden their capacity within public defense by pursuing investigator positions. A case is made for interested social workers to draw upon their education, training, and experience to showcase the alignment between their talents and the requisite skills and performance required of investigative work. Evidence is offered to support the notion that social workers bring skills and a social justice orientation to investigative work that can provide for fresh insight and innovation in investigation and defense strategy. The value brought to investigation by social workers throughout a legal defense is specified, as are considerations for applying and interviewing for investigator positions as social workers

Criminal justice · Criminology · Interview · Negotiation · Political science · Public defender · Public relations · Social science · Sociology · Work (physics · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Engineering · Law · Psychology · Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending · Social Work Education and Practice · Social Work

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