STUDIES: Justice Denied: America’s Continuing Neglect of Our Constitutional Right to Counsel

The Constitution Project has released a com­pre­hen­sive report on the U.S. sys­tem of rep­re­sen­ta­tion for indi­gent defen­dants, ​“Justice Denied: America’s Continuing Neglect of Our Constitutional Right to Counsel.” The report finds deep flaws in the country’s pub­lic defense sys­tem and makes 22 rec­om­men­da­tions for state and fed­er­al offi­cials for reform­ing the sys­tem. Among the prob­lems that this study iden­ti­fies are exces­sive case­loads for indi­gent defense sys­tems, inad­e­quate fund­ing, eth­i­cal breach­es, polit­i­cal­iza­tion of the pub­lic defend­er sys­tem, and lack of time­ly appoint­ment of coun­sel, and some­times no appoint­ment at all. The full report may be found  here  .

(The Constitution Project, ​“Justice Denied, America’s Continuing Neglect of Our Constitutional Right to Counsel,” April 14, 2009). See Studies and Representation. The Constitution Project is a D.C. based non-prof­it that seeks con­sen­sus solu­tions to dif­fi­cult legal and con­sti­tu­tion­al issues. It does so through con­struc­tive dia­logue across ide­o­log­i­cal and par­ti­san lines, and through schol­ar­ship, activism, and pub­lic education efforts.