Gideon v. Wainwright Gideon v. Wainwright, (372 U

Gideon v. Wainwright, (372 U.S. 335 (1963)) was one of the most important cases in legal history. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that criminal defendants charged with felonies in state court had a constitutional right to have the court appoint an attorney to represent them if they could not afford to hire one themselves. This case remains the law today, but as the paper will demonstrate the promise of Gideon v. Wainwright is not being truly fulfilled.

In the 1960s, Clarence Earl Gideon was charged in a Florida state court with breaking into a poolroom with the intent of committing a crime in the poolroom (Gideon v. Wainwright ("Gideon"), 372 U.S. 335, 337). His charge was a felony under Florida law. Because Gideon could not afford to pay a lawyer, he asked the trial judge to appoint one for him. The judge refused, stating that "the only time the Court can appoint Counsel to represent a Defendant is when that person is charged with a capital offense" (Gideon, 372 U.S. at 337). Gideon, referring to the Sixth Amendment, responded that the "United States Supreme Court says I am entitled to be represented by Counsel" (Gideon, 372 U.S. at 337). The judge, however, refused to appoint an attorney. Gideon continued on to trial and conducted his own defense. He was convicted.

The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The Amendment states that "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the

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e than the new, we but restore constitutional principles established to achieve a fair system of justice. . . . [I]n 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. This seems to us to be an obvious truth. 372 U.S. at 343. Since Gideon was decided, the Supreme Court has held that criminal defendants can never be imprisoned unless they were first provided assistance of counsel (Scott v. Illinois, 440 U.S. 367 (1979)), and that criminal juvenile defendants also have a right to assistance of counsel (In re Gault, 487 U.S. 1 (1987)). In the forty years since Gideon was decided, every state has constructed a system of public defenders to provide defense attorneys for people charged with crimes for which imprisonment is a possible penalty. However, questions continue to arise about whether the quality of the legal defenses made available to indigent people charged with crimes actually fulfills the promise of Gideon v. Wainwright. As early as 1989, legal observers began to question the efficacy of the public defender programs. For example, Mardi Crawford, an attorney with the National Legal Aid and Defender

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