The Right to Counsel: An Unfulfilled Constitutional Right (2013)

ABSTRACT & CITATION

This short piece was written by Tim Young, the Ohio Public Defender, for the ABA’s Human Rights Magazine. It describes the failure of indigent defense systems to fulfill the right to counsel due to a number of obstacles, including underfunding, lack of independence, lack of attorney training, and excessive caseloads. Young specifically addresses lack of adequate representation at misdemeanor proceedings and all defendants’ first appearances. He argues that providing adequate resources in these areas, and in indigent defense generally, is actually a cost savings, because fewer people are needlessly incarcerated at great expense to the state. More importantly, he stresses, vindicating the right to counsel is essential to ensuring the human right and constitutional right to freedom. In fact, “counsel is the most important guarantee of our Bill of Rights because it is through counsel that our rights are defended.” According to Young, it is also a matter of fundamental fairness that poor and rich defendants are able to defend their rights alike.

Young, T. (2013). The Right to Counsel: An Unfulfilled Constitutional Right. Human Rights, 39.