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The Public Defender Crisis In America: Gideon, The War On Drugs And The Fight For Equality, William Lawrence
The Public Defender Crisis In America: Gideon, The War On Drugs And The Fight For Equality, William Lawrence
University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review
The role of the public defender in the United States is one that is often disparaged and widely misunderstood. This note will first attempt to illuminate the evolution of the public defender movement in the United States, detailing its rather quiet ascent to the forefront of the criminal justice system: from the early work of Clara Foltz, to the trial of Clarence Earl Gideon, and beyond. The note will also broach just a few of the many systemic issues faced by the modern day public defender, including the unfortunate perception of inferiority from both the general public and indigent defendants …
In Defense Of Public Defenders: Polk County V. Dodson, Jeffrey C. Gilbert
In Defense Of Public Defenders: Polk County V. Dodson, Jeffrey C. Gilbert
University of Miami Law Review
In Polk County v. Dodson, the United States Supreme Court held that a public defender does not act under color of state law "when performing a lawyer's 'traditional functions' as counsel to a defendant in a criminal proceeding." The Court formulated a "functions" test to distinguish cases holding that public defenders act under color of state law when performing administrative tasks or when engaging in nontraditional or criminal acts. The author questions the Court's marked curtailment of indigents' access to federal courts when alleging ineffective representation by public defenders under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Moreover, the author concludes that …