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Free tools for criminal defense attorneys, in one place.
Every BenchRecon tool you can use without paying: officer public-record search, a case-citation verifier, a Florida scoresheet calculator, a CJA eVoucher time formatter, expert-witness opinion search, and the free federal and Florida sentencing data studies. Each one is source-linked and built for defense preparation.
Interactive tools
- Officer public-record lookup
Search a testifying officer by name and jurisdiction against public complaint and certification-discipline records. Every row is source-linked with an identity-confidence note, so you know what to run down in discovery. Live search is free.
- Case-citation verifier
Paste a motion or brief and check every case citation against CourtListener's opinion corpus before you file. Built to catch AI-generated or opposing-counsel citations that do not resolve. No account required.
- Florida scoresheet calculator
Enter the offense factors and get the total sentence points and lowest permissible sentence, computed from the verbatim Fla. Stat. § 921.0024 point values with a § 921.0022 severity lookup. An educational estimate, not legal advice.
- CJA eVoucher time formatter
Paste loose CJA-20 time entries and get the federal eVoucher CSV import schema back, rounded to the tenth-hour and tagged by service type. Runs entirely in your browser.
- Transcript citation copier
Paste a paginated, line-numbered transcript, select a passage, and copy it with the exact page and line pincite (e.g. Tr. 45:12-46:3). The cite is derived only from the parsed structure, never guessed. Runs entirely in your browser.
- Expert-witness opinion search
Search a forensic or expert witness by name against published court opinions, alongside Daubert, Frye, and Kumho references. Verbatim passages, source-linked. A lead tool, not an outcome finding.
- Embeddable widgets
Free iframe widgets, the officer-check search and the Florida scoresheet calculator, that you can paste onto your own firm site. Copy the snippet and go.
Federal sentencing data
- Federal sentencing data studies
An index of free federal sentencing studies derived from public U.S. Sentencing Commission records: district-level disparity, the trial vs. plea penalty, mandatory-minimum impact, and below-guideline departure rates. Each study cites its methodology.
Florida references and data
- Florida attorney reference hub
The Florida reference index: criminal statutes, the Evidence Code, Rules of Criminal Procedure, standard jury instructions, and officer-records surfaces, each source-linked to the official Florida text.
- Florida officer-discipline data study
Aggregate FDLE/CJSTC certification-discipline analysis across Florida agencies, source-backed and reproducible. Free to read and cite.
- Florida sentencing data study
Aggregate Florida sentencing outcomes by county and charge from FDLE clerk-of-court data. Aggregate-only, source-backed, free to read.
Guides
- AI-hallucinated legal citations
A plain explainer on AI-fabricated case citations and how they have drawn sanctions, with the steps to verify a brief before filing. Companion to the free citation verifier.
- CJA eVoucher time entry
A working reference to CJA-20 billing in eVoucher: the service-entry format, the twelve service-type codes, the tenth-hour rounding rule, and how the documented format keeps a voucher from bouncing. Companion to the free CJA formatter.
- Florida sentencing scoresheet
How a Florida Criminal Punishment Code scoresheet works: the primary-offense, prior-record, victim-injury, and enhancement point values, the severity-level lookup, and the lowest-permissible-sentence formula, each figure verbatim from Fla. Stat. § 921.0024. Companion to the free scoresheet calculator.
- Transcript page and line citations
What a page:line transcript pincite is, why it matters for impeachment and cross-examination, how a paginated line-numbered transcript is structured, and how a cross-page range like Tr. 45:12-46:3 reads. General practice, stated as such. Companion to the free transcript citation copier.
- The cost of a Florida criminal conviction
The categories of financial consequence of a Florida conviction: court costs and statutory fees, fines, restitution, and the downstream costs when a balance goes unpaid, with the statewide recorded medians from public FDLE data. Descriptive figures, not a prediction. Companion to the free cost-of-conviction data study.
- Withhold of adjudication in Florida
What a withhold of adjudication is under Fla. Stat. s. 948.01, how it differs from a conviction, its effect on sealing under s. 943.059 and on federal immigration status, and what the aggregate FDLE data shows about how often withholds are recorded. Descriptive figures, not a prediction. Companion to the free adjudication-withheld data study.
- Federal sentencing disparity by district
What inter-district federal sentencing disparity is, what the aggregate USSC data shows across the judicial districts and within a single charge type, and how the data informs the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(6) unwarranted-disparities factor. Descriptive figures, not a prediction. Companion to the free federal sentencing-disparity data study.
- How often Florida charges are dismissed
How Florida criminal charges are resolved in the public FDLE Clerk-of-Court data: what the four court-disposition families (dismissed, diversion, acquitted, convicted) mean, why a dismissal rate is not a prosecutor's declination rate, and how the shares vary by charge category. Descriptive figures, not a prediction. Companion to the free charge-disposition data study.
- How long is a Florida sentence
How long Florida sentences run in the public FDLE Clerk-of-Court data: what median, mean, and mode confinement mean, why a recorded length is a floor and varies by charge category and county, and why it is descriptive, not a prediction for any one case. Descriptive figures, not a forecast. Companion to the free sentencing-outcomes data study.
- Florida DUI penalties
What a Florida DUI carries under Fla. Stat. § 316.193: the fine ranges and jail ceilings by conviction, the higher penalties when the alcohol level is 0.15 or above or a minor is in the car, the mandatory minimums on repeat convictions, and when a third conviction becomes a felony. Every figure quoted from the statute, cited to the primary source. General information, not legal advice. Companion to the free sentencing-outcomes data study.
- Florida drug possession penalties
What possession of a controlled substance carries in Florida under Fla. Stat. § 893.13: why most possession is a third-degree felony, when 20 grams or less of cannabis is a first-degree misdemeanor, and when possession of more than 10 grams of listed Schedule I/II substances is a first-degree felony, with the maximum prison term and fine that follow from the offense degree under § 775.082 and § 775.083. Every figure quoted from the statute, cited to the primary source. Trafficking is a separate track, not computed. General information, not legal advice. Companion to the Chapter 893 statute reference.
Beyond the free tools
When you need the filing-ready exhibit.
The free tools give you the search and the estimate. The paid exhibits turn that into a source-cited brief you can attach to a motion or hand to a client. See the full catalog when you are ready.