ConclusionStates, prosecutors, defendants, and the Constitution have all been affected by Gideon's implications. The decision enables millions of people each year to have
access to free legal counsel, and it gives prosecutors and states the responsibility
of ensuring that fairness and justice are achieved. There have been notable shortcomings in achieving this goal, but Gideon is major step in creating a balanced legal system where everyone, regardless of wealth, has
a fair chance.
Although we criticize the application of the standard for ineffective assistance of counsel[,] . . . without Gideon, there would have been absolutely no constitutional floor for the quality of representation provided. All things considered, in a contest for the single most important criminal procedure decision the Supreme Court has ever rendered, Gideon has no real competition. |
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- 1. John H. Blume and Sheri Lynn Johnson, "Gideon Exceptionalism?," Yale Law Journal 122, no. 8 (June 2013): 2131.
- 2. Roberto Parada, Clarence Earl Gideon, illustration, American Bar Association Journal, March 1, 2013.