NACDL News: States Have Long Road Ahead to Ensure the Right to Counsel, New NACDL Report Finds

On Oct. 26, 2016, NACDL released a report that surveys the standards set by each of the 50 states to provide counsel in criminal cases to those who cannot afford to pay for a lawyer. The Sixth Amendment to the Constitution requires each state to ensure the right to counsel in any criminal prosecution. Prepared by John P. Gross,  assistant professor of clinical legal education and director of the Criminal Defense Clinic at the University of Alabama School of Law, Representation in All Criminal Prosecutions: The Right to Counsel in State Courts examines how states have designed their public defense policies in light of Gideon v. Wainwright and other Supreme Court cases interpreting the Sixth Amendment’s mandate. This is the third report in NACDL’s series Gideon at 50: A Three-Part Examination of Public Defense in America.