Gideon Vs Wainwright Case Analysis

In recent years, the American Bar Association (ABA) who are committed to improve the administration of justice, has characterized the funding for poor defense services as “shamefully inadequate” and found that the system “lack fundamental fairness and places poor persons at constant risk for wrongful conviction” (Mcgough, 2011). This revelation by the ABA, comes fifty years after the historic decision in Gideon v. Wainwright in which the supreme court, established the public defender system. Constructing the system, guaranteed all criminal defendants the right to a counsel while requiring states to provide a defense attorney to those defendants who cannot afford one, free of cost.
Today, the public defender system achieves poorer outcomes than its private sector counterpart. One reported reason for the system’s poor outcome is due to excessive trial delays, which can occur for various reasons. For example, other cases may prevent a public defense attorney from devoting the necessary time to the case at hand thus, requesting additional time to prep for trial. On the other hand, the requested time has to be reasonable otherwise, the delay can violate the defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial. In which often times, according to Tanya Greene an ACLU attorney and capital public …show more content…
Prior to trial, Gideon requested the court appoint him an attorney for representation, the judge denied his request based on Florida’s requirements at the time. At trial Gideon represented himself, and despite his effort was sentenced to five years in prison. While serving his sentence Gideon filed a petition to the Supreme Court, challenging his conviction, arguing that the judge’s refusal to appoint counsel violated his constitutional rights. The court agreed to hear his case and Gideon won. As a result the public defender system was created in Florida, and each state thereafter adapted the

Show More

Related Documents: Gideon Vs Wainwright Case Analysis