Today there is widespread recognition that the goal of providing counsel to the nation's poor, stated by the United States Supreme Court fifty years ago in Gideon v. Wainwright, has not been achieved.
In Gideon, the Supreme Court declared it an "obvious truth" that "in our adversary system of criminal justice, any person haled into court, who is too poor to hire a lawyer, cannot be assured a fair trial unless counsel is provided for him." The Court has since held that, in addition to indigent defendants facing a felony charge, those charged with misdemeanors who could be jailed, convicted defendants filing a first appeal, and juveniles charged with delinquency all have a constitutional right to counsel.
50th Anniversary of Gideon Decision Exposes Continuing Problems in Indigent Defense | Equal Justice Initiative
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