Representation

Overview

The qual­i­ty of rep­re­sen­ta­tion a defen­dant receives in a cap­i­tal case can make the dif­fer­ence between life and death. Almost all defen­dants can­not afford to pay for a lawyer, and states dif­fer wide­ly on the stan­dards — if any — for death penal­ty rep­re­sen­ta­tion. Accounts of lawyers sleep­ing or drink­ing alco­hol dur­ing the tri­al, lawyers with racial bias toward their client, lawyers who con­duct no inves­ti­ga­tion or fail to obtain nec­es­sary experts, or lawyers sim­ply hav­ing no expe­ri­ence with cap­i­tal cas­es have been ram­pant through­out the his­to­ry of the death penalty.

The right to an attor­ney is a hall­mark of the American judi­cial sys­tem. It is essen­tial that the lawyer be expe­ri­enced in cap­i­tal cas­es, be ade­quate­ly com­pen­sat­ed, and have access to the resources need­ed to ful­fill his or her oblig­a­tions to the client and the court.

As abus­es in the sys­tem have been exposed, most states have raised the stan­dards for rep­re­sen­ta­tion. However, most death-penal­ty states do not have statewide cap­i­tal defense orga­ni­za­tions, and many coun­ties who are respon­si­ble for assign­ing and com­pen­sat­ing lawyers have small bud­gets and can­not afford the kind of rep­re­sen­ta­tion a cap­i­tal case requires.

At Issue

Despite the poor qual­i­ty of rep­re­sen­ta­tion in many cap­i­tal cas­es, courts have often upheld the con­vic­tions and death sen­tences imposed because of low expec­ta­tions and the belief that bet­ter rep­re­sen­ta­tion would not have made a dif­fer­ence in the case. Where high­er qual­i­ty coun­sel and ade­quate resources have been pro­vid­ed, death sen­tences have declined dramatically.

What DPIC Offers

DPI has high­light­ed the key court deci­sions in this area, as well as the numer­ous instances in which the sys­tem has failed. A num­ber of DPI’s reports dis­cuss the impor­tance of qual­i­ty rep­re­sen­ta­tion. The stan­dards for rep­re­sen­ta­tion approved by the American Bar Association, along with the sta­tus of state com­pli­ance, are also available.