Since 2001, Margaret Gressens has been a pillar in the IDS community, leading and driving crucial research as the Research Director. One of her most important bodies of work includes the System Evaluation Project (SEP) which developed a set of metrics for measuring Indigent Defense Services and is an ongoing project to improved evalution across the state. Margaret was also instrumental in the development of the Public Defense Portal which is a communications platform for all defense attorneys in North Carolina. Her dedicated work to Indigent Defense has helped shape IDS in countless ways.
Margaret also worked with departments under IDS including Juvenile Defense and was vital in the support of juvenile delinquency research. In her time she helped form the structure and analysis of the Youth Development Center Project. She devised juvenile Key Performance Indicators to assist in the quantification of quality of juvenile defense performance. Every year, Margaret’s juvenile defender data for privately assigned counsel and public defenders gives OJD the tools to organize policy, training, and technical support aimed at improving delivery of juvenile defense services.
When asked about working with Margaret all these years, Whitney Fairbanks, Deputy Director and General Counsel at IDS says, “I think it was brilliant that the drafters included research in IDS’s mission and great luck that IDS was able to nab Margaret for the job. Sometimes lawyers and researchers don’t speak the same language (OK, more than sometimes) but I always left a conversation with Margaret with more knowledge than I had when I entered it. I am going to miss her work and I am going to miss her.”
Good luck and the most fun on your next adventure Margaret!
From Everyone at IDS!