When a person is accused of a crime, the U.S. Constitution guarantees that person the right to a lawyer even if they cannot afford one. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed this basic principle more than a half century ago in Gideon v. Wainwright, and in subsequent cases that expanded the right to misdemeanor prosecutions. Yet this right is violated every day in South Carolina’s magistrate and municipal courts – collectively referred to as summary courts – where scores of people are convicted, sentenced, and sometimes incarcerated, without having been represented by counsel. [Released April 2016]

The Right to Counsel in State Courts

This 50-state Survey of Right to Counsel Standards documents how states decide when a qualifying individual charged with criminal wrongdoing is entitled to receive appointed counsel. Some states only appoint counsel in cases of actual incarceration following conviction, while others mandate appointed counsel based solely on the fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime. Other states fall between these standards and appoint counsel when a sentence of incarceration is authorized or likely to be imposed following conviction. [Released October 2016]

This 50-State Survey of Financial Eligibility Guidelines for Assigned Counsel documents how states decide who is “too poor” to hire a lawyer. The survey looks at how states define “indigency” and whether or not that definition is consistent with ABA standards for providing defense services. It identifies which states rely on the Federal Poverty Guidelines when determining eligibility for assigned counsel, and explains the origin of the Federal Poverty Guidelines and how they cannot accurately predict who is “too poor” to hire a lawyer. [Released March 2014]

This report documents the unreasonably low rates of compensation paid to private attorneys who represent indigent defendants in state courts. The lack of adequate funding restricts the pool of attorneys willing to represent indigent defendants and creates conflicts of interest for attorneys by encouraging them to limit the amount of work they perform on a case for an indigent client. [Released March 2013]

Antoinette Tucker and Autumn Town are public defenders who make a difference in the lives of their clients.

Shanelle Kindel and Karin Williamson, both public defenders, are proud of the work they do for clients.

NACDL launches the Gideon’s Champions Project.

When asked to think about the state of Tennessee, one’s thoughts may quickly gravitate to music. Tennessee is the birthplace of rock and roll, country and blues, and musical icons from the past and present quickly come to mind: Johnny Cash, B.B. King, Patsy Cline, Kenny Chesney, and Elvis Presley. Others may think of the state’s strong ties to the Civil Rights Movement. Tennessee was the home of the Highlander Folk School, a training ground for many of the Movement’s key figures including Rosa Parks and John Lewis, and the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated.

When some people in the indigent defense community speak of federal public defenders, there is often a twinge of jealousy because federal defender offices embody many of the ideals of parity and equality about which state public defenders can only dream. Federal defenders are generally paid at the same rate as their counterparts in the U.S. Attorney’s Office and their caseloads are measured by multiples of 10 rather than multiples of 100.

A Lawyer’s Response To the Threat of His Client’s Loss of Counsel (Gideon’s Champions) William P. Wolf Gideon’s Champions April 2013 53 One of the fundamental reasons that a Bill of Rights was pushed through and ratified to become part of the U.S. Constitution in 1791 was the fundamental belief th

NACDL President Lawrence Goldman's letter to House Judiciary Committee chair Representative Jim Sensenbrenner regarding the Innocence Protection Act of 2001 (H.R. 912).

Highlighting the work of front line public defenders, this series of articles highlights some of the personal challenges public defenders face as they work to ensure the amount of justice a person receives is not determined by the amount of money in their pocket.

Transcript of Clarence Earl Gideon's original trial, Florida v. Clarence Earl Gideon, August 4, 1962.

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers deems that where warranted by the jurisdictional population needs and caseload, a proper public defense delivery system should comprise institutional offices of full-time attorney staff as well as meaningful participation of private attorneys with equal access to training and resources necessary to provide effective criminal defense.