A new American Bar Association study has found that thou­sands of sus­pects, includ­ing some who are lat­er giv­en death sen­tences, risk wrong­ful con­vic­tion because they are pres­sured to accept guilty pleas or have incom­pe­tent attor­neys. After sur­vey­ing 22 states, the ABA com­mit­tee lead­ing the study stat­ed that legal rep­re­sen­ta­tion for indi­gent defen­dants is in ​“a state of cri­sis.“

In its report, the ABA fea­tured a num­ber of wrong­ful con­vic­tion cas­es, includ­ing the recent release of Lousiana death row inmate Ryan Matthews, to under­score the need for Congress and local gov­ern­ments to spend more mon­ey and cre­ate over­sight groups to guard against shod­dy legal rep­re­sen­ta­tion. The study asked judges to be more vig­i­lant in ensur­ing that defen­dants have com­pe­tent coun­sel, and it not­ed that no for­mal train­ing for indi­gent defense coun­sel is offered in Louisiana, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas, the state that car­ries out the most exe­cu­tions each year. The ABA report crit­i­cized ​“meet ​‘em and plead ​‘em lawyers” in parts of the South who often nego­ti­ate a plea agree­ment on the first day they meet their client, and it found dis­par­i­ties in com­pen­sa­tion between pros­e­cu­tors and pub­lic defend­ers. In California, for exam­ple, defense coun­sel aver­age $60.90 for every $100 the pros­e­cu­tion receives.

​“The fun­da­men­tal right to a lawyer that Americans assume appl[ies] to every­one accused of crim­i­nal con­duct effec­tive­ly does not exist in prac­tice for count­less peo­ple across the United States. All too often, defen­dants plead guilty, even if they are inno­cent, with­out real­ly under­stand­ing their legal rights,” the study states. (Associated Press, February 11, 2005). Read the Executive Summary of the ABA’s Report, ​“Gideon’s Broken Promises: America’s Continuing Quest for Equal Justice.” Read the Complete Study. See also Innocence, Representation, and Studies.


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