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61 Idaho L. Rev. 1 (2025)
Stress and Public Criminal Defense: Comparing Male and Female Defender Experiences and Coping Strategies

handle is hein.journals/idlr61 and id is 14 raw text is: STRESS AND PUBLIC CRIMINAL DEFENSE: COMPARING MALE AND FEMALE DEFENDER EXPERIENCES AND COPING STRATEGIES ALISA SMITH' ABSTRACT Little research has focused on stress and coping strategies among public defenders, and none compares the experiences of male and female defenders. As frontline workers, critical to the due process of law, understanding and eradicating stress is essential to their well-being and the fair treatment of defendants. Employing thematic analysis of public defenders' responses to open-ended questions, this study found gendered differences in how male and female defenders described their work motivations, challenges, and strategies for dealing with stress. Both male and female public defenders confront the stresses of injustice and heavy workloads. Female defenders, however, are more likely to experience gender discrimination and disrespect and the added stress of family and parenting responsibilities. Emotion-focused and recovery coping strategies were adopted far more often by public defenders than problem-focused approaches, but male defenders expressed psychologically detaching from work far more often than female defenders. The differences in male-female defender experiences and coping strategies, directions for future research, and the need for nuanced and distinct solutions for public defender stress are discussed. TABLE OF CONTENTS I. IN T R O D U C T IO N ....................................................................................................... 2 II. WORK ENGAGEMENT, JOB DEMANDS, AND BURNOUT ................................... 6 I11. GENDER, BURNOUT, AND COPING STRATEGIES ................................................. 9 A. Gender-Burnout Relationship Among Lawyers ........................................... 10 B. Coping Strategies for Public Defender Stress .............................................. 12 IV. STUDY DESIGN AND M ETHODOLOGY.............................................................. 14 A . Sam ple D escription ..................................................................................... . 16 B . A nalytic Pro cess ........................................................................................... . 17 1 Alisa Smith, J.D., Ph.D., is a Professor of Legal Studies at the University of Central Florida. I am the sole owner and author of the study in this Article. The University of Central Florida Institutional Review Board approved the study. I am thankful to the leadership ofthe National Association for Public Defense, especially President Lori James-Townes, for encouraging their mem bership to participate in the study and distributing my survey and recruitment message. I am also extraordinarily grateful to the survey participants, whose responses provided the data for this study and whose anonymity I have protected.

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