Don't I Need a Lawyer?

Abstract

For more than a decade, The Constitution Project National Right to Counsel Committee (“Committee”) has examined the state of indigent defense in our country, determined to assist governments in realizing the promise of Gideon v. Wainwright that any person accused of a crime – regardless of his or her ability to afford a lawyer – has the right to effective legal representation under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. In 2009, the Committee issued a landmark report, Justice Denied, which documents the structural and financial impediments jurisdictions face in ensuring that any person accused of a crime receives effective assistance of counsel. In 2013, we commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Gideon decision with production and release of Defending Gideon, a short, publicly available film that weaves the story of Clarence Gideon into contemporary portraits of legal injustice, highlighting the importance of a system that guarantees representation for all—and the dire consequences when that system fails. The Committee’s newest report, Don’t I Need a Lawyer?, addresses one of the most common and overlooked deprivations of this constitutionally-guaranteed right experienced by poor criminal defendants across the United States: the denial of counsel when a judge or magistrate determines whether someone accused of a crime will be incarcerated or will remain free prior to trial.