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Furthermore, such appointed lawyers (usually public defenders) must deliver “effective” assistance to defendants-meaning that they must adequately advise the defendants of the potential consequences of pleading guilty and provide a reasonably competent defense if defendants choose to go to trial. Wainwright (1963), the Court held that such defendants facing possible prison time are entitled to court-appointed lawyers, paid for by the government. But what if the defendant wants a lawyer but cannot afford to hire one? In Gideon v. The accused also has an implied right to forego counsel entirely and defend himself. The Court has confirmed that a defendant with enough money generally has the right to be represented by the lawyer of his choice. Perhaps the Supreme Court’s most significant work has involved implementing the right to counsel. This “incorporation” of the Sixth Amendment against the states has also required the Court, over the past half-century, to spell out the Amendment’s protections and apply them to the variety of criminal justice systems across the Nation. This vastly expanded the Amendment’s reach, because most criminal prosecutions occur in state court. So by the mid-twentieth century, juries resolved only a small fraction of criminal cases.Īround the same time, the Supreme Court ruled that virtually every aspect of the Sixth Amendment applies not only to federal but also to state prosecutions.
#Her interactive community trial#
That meant that most defendants avoided trial and pled guilty in exchange for lower charges or sentences. To avoid the time and expense of jury trials and clear courts’ busy dockets, prosecutors and defense lawyers also increasingly plea bargained. Judges developed rules of evidence and procedure and gave the lawyers a say in selecting and instructing juries, so trials grew longer and more complex.
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In some communities, charities or local governments set up public defender offices, offering free lawyers to all or some defendants accused of sufficiently serious crimes. Public prosecutors steadily displaced victims, and then defendants who could afford to increasingly hired lawyers to level the playing field.
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Professional police forces came into being and took charge of investigating crime and arresting suspects. Most of the institutions of criminal justice changed greatly over the decades after the Sixth Amendment was enacted.
The Anglo-American system that the Sixth Amendment codified, by contrast, leaves it to each side to conduct its own investigation, present its own evidence, and argue one side of the story in open court. Continental Europe had long used an inquisitorial system, in which magistrates investigate crimes and judges take leading roles in framing the issues, digging up evidence, and questioning witnesses. The Framers of the Sixth Amendment sought to strengthen this vigorous adversarial process. They checked the government’s power to punish and applied the conscience of the community in the public eye, assuring everyone that justice had been done swiftly, impartially, and fairly. Jurors looked witnesses in the eye and debated both whether a defendant was factually guilty and whether he deserved mercy. They also knew which charges subjected defendants to the death penalty (as many felonies did), and which did not. They were local citizens who often knew the victim, defendant, and other people and places involved. Juries of twelve ordinary men were central players in this system. Trials were like shouting matches, in which victims and defendants argued and brought other live witnesses to tell their stories. At trial, neither side typically had a lawyer, so both victims and defendants represented themselves. Criminal cases were almost always brought by victims, not public prosecutors. But the institutions of American criminal justice have changed markedly over the past several centuries, forcing courts to consider how old rights apply to new institutions and procedures.Īt the time of the Founding, there were local sheriffs but no professionalized police forces instead, ordinary men took turns serving as constables or night watchmen. The Sixth Amendment guarantees a cluster of rights designed to make criminal prosecutions more accurate, fair, and legitimate.