INDIANAPOLIS — Lawmakers are responding to a WRTV Investigation into the state’s attorney shortage and the impact on the criminal justice system.
Our investigation found only 11% of Indiana counties have adequate prosecutor staffing to meet its workload.
The average salary (not starting) for a deputy prosecutor in Indiana is $69,777, according to the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council.
Meanwhile, the typical law school graduate carries $130,000 in education debt.
Rep. Ed Delaney, D-Indianapolis, saw our investigation and said the legislature should use state funds to address student loan debt for public defenders and prosecutors.
"We’ve got to find a way to reduce that debt,” said Delaney. “I think if we find a way to forgive loans if people serve a long time, we need to do that as a state. We need to come up with a simple, local based method of supporting our prosecutors and public defenders by reducing their loan debt and they serve and there’s ways to do that."
Megan Schueler is one of two public defenders in Owen County.
“Right now I think I pay $400 a month in student loans," Schueler said.
Rep. Ed Delaney is a retired lawyer, and said he’d also be in favor of allowing paralegals to handle routine criminal cases.
“They would have to be licensed, that would be a change,” said Delaney.
Rep. McNamara, R-Mount Vernon, is the chair of the Courts and Criminal Code Committee.
“The shortage is real,” said McNamara. “It’s something we’ve been aware of for several years.
McNamara represents Vanderburgh County, which was short four public defenders this year, so they had to distribute 200 cases to attorneys across the state.
PREVIOUS | Public defenders stretched thin through Indiana
“We have options and that always includes increasing pay,” said McNamara. “Unfortunately, in a non-budget year we can't do that. It's going to take more than just one piece of legislation to turn this around."
McNamara said we need to look at incentivizing attorneys from surrounding states like Kentucky and Illinois to practice in Indiana.
Currently, dozens of Indiana counties have job openings for prosecutors and public defenders.
"If we aren’t graduating the number of spots that are available, we should try to figure out a way to bring in attorneys from outside of Indiana,” said McNamara.
Another possible solution to Indiana’s attorney shortage is online law schools like Purdue Global.
"We currently have between 700-800 students from across the country and the globe,” said Purdue Global Dean Martin Pritikin.
The American Bar Association currently doesn’t accredit fully online law schools, said Pritikin.
However, the Indiana Supreme Court is considering a waiver that would allow graduates of online law schools to take the Indiana Bar exam and ultimately practice in our state.
The Indiana Supreme Court accepted comments through December 15 but no timeline has been released on when a decision is expected.
“It's so important because it would be the first time a state aside from California would create a path for graduates of an online law school like ours to immediately sit for the bar exam upon graduation,” said Pritikin.
Our investigation found rural areas are the hardest hit by the attorney shortage.
PREVIOUS | Attracting law students to rural areas key to addressing attorney shortage
Purdue Global Dean Martin Pritikin said the best way to get more lawyers to rural areas is not by paying attorneys to move there, but rather for people who already live in rural counties to get their law degrees online.
"If you're going part time and you're going online, you don't have to give up your job to go to law school, you don't have move near campus, you don't have to take out loans to cover your living expenses,” said Pritikin. “The tuition itself is cheaper."
Pritikin said the tuition for Purdue Global is just under $50,000 for the entire four-year program.
Rep. Wendy McNamara said the legislature needs to look at the cost of law school in Indiana, which can run more than $30,000 a year for tuition at Indiana University’s law schools in Indianapolis and Bloomington and tuition at Notre Dame’s Law School is more than $68,000 a year.
“I think if we can figure out way to control the cost of law school, that would make a big difference too,” said McNamara. “Cost of the education is a huge factor and that can’t be forgotten.”
You can watch our full investigation on the Attorney Shortage here.
