Uneven Access to Justice: Social Context and Eligibility for the Right to Counsel.

This article analyzes the local implementation of Texas's Fair Defense Act (SB 7, 2001), which mandated all 254 counties to establish formal criteria for determining indigency and eligibility for appointed criminal defense counsel. Using county court indigent defense plans and sociodemographic data, the study finds significant variation in the stringency of eligibility criteria, influenced primarily by socioeconomic conditions, racial threat—particularly the size of Black populations—interest group presence, and judicial discretion. Political partisanship was not a significant factor, while counties with larger Black populations and lower education levels tended to adopt more restrictive policies, potentially perpetuating racial and class-based inequalities in access to legal aid. The findings highlight how local institutional designs of indigency criteria shape access to justice and contribute to structural disparities within the criminal legal system.