Publication Title

American Constitution Society

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-1-2010

Abstract

In their issue brief, Mr. Bright and Ms. Lucas discuss the problems that have existed in Georgia’s indigent defense system since Gideon was handed down. They contend that “[a]ll three branches of Georgia’s government have failed in their constitutional responsibility to ensure that poor people accused of crimes are effectively represented by competent lawyers.” They also argue that “[t]he federal government, which has made immense contributions to the prosecution of criminal cases in Georgia through grants to law enforcement, prosecutors, and courts, shares responsibility for the integrity of Georgia’s criminal justice system and the enforcement of the constitutional right to counsel.” Mr. Bright and Ms. Lucas describe Georgia’s public defender system and its failings, as well as the impact it is having on individual defendants. They then explore how “the federal government can play a role in remedying Georgia’s failure to enforce the right to counsel.” They conclude that “[u]nless the federal government enforces the right to counsel through measures requiring states like Georgia to fundamentally reconceive the way in which they provide indigent defense services, it is unlikely that those states will ever meet their constitutional responsibilities. The cost will be enormous in terms of wrongful convictions, uninformed sentencing, and a criminal justice system that lacks both credibility and legitimacy.”

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Recommended Citation

Stephen B. Bright & Lauren Sudeall Lucas, Overcoming Defiance of the Constitution: The Need for a Federal Role in Protecting the Right to Counsel in Georgia, American Constitution Society (Sep. 2010), available at http://www.acslaw.org/files/Bright%20and%20Lucas%20-%20Right%20to%20Counsel.pdf.

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