Pleading the Sixth: On March 2, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice launched a national tour to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of Gideon v. Wainwright. A focus of the tour’s first stop was timely access to counsel for indigent defendants.…
Tag: early appointment of counsel
A lack of effectiveness and financial oversight define Maine’s right to counsel system
Pleading the Sixth: Maine is the only state in the country that provides all indigent defense services through private attorneys. There are two principal reasons that other states have moved away from using solely private attorneys. First, it is difficult to…
New York caseload standards announced and their importance to statewide reform explained
Pleading the Sixth: In early April 2017, the New York governor’s office and legislature reached a historic legislative agreement. The state of New York is already committed to pay for the systemic reforms promulgated pursuant to the settlement agreement in…
Should non-lawyer judges be sending people to jail? SCOTUS asked to review
Pleading the Sixth: In 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that the 14th Amendment permits non-lawyer judges to impose jail time so long as the defendant has the ability to get a do-over in front of a judge who is…
6AC & PJI release issue paper on early appointment of counsel
The Pretrial Justice Institute and the Sixth Amendment Center jointly release a new report, Early Appointment of Counsel: The Law, Implementation, and Benefits, that concludes that the justice goals of the criminal court systems will be best served where every…
Delaware’s right to counsel deficiencies exposed
Pleading the Sixth: In January 2011, then-Chief Justice Myron Steele sought to end Delaware’s undue judicial interference in the state’s conflict indigent defense services by transferring responsibility for the administration of the conflict panel from the court to the Office…
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