McMurtrie on Gideon

Jacqueline McMurtrie (University of Washington - School of Law)  has posted Introduction: Third Annual Public Defense Conference (Seattle Journal of Social Justice, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 853-66 (2013)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

The Third Annual Conference on Public Defense, sponsored by Seattle University School of Law's Defender Initiative, was held in spring 2013 — the 50th anniversary of Gideon v. Wainwright. And thus many of the papers in this issue, most drawn from the conference, address what has been accomplished in that half century.

The need for change resounds throughout the series of SJSJGideon's anniversary. The authors also express hope that our justice system can achieve Gideon's promise of fundamental fairness for indigent defendants. These excellent additions to the scholarly discourse are a significant contribution to ensuring what Gideon's Trumpet heralded: In the future, the name 'Gideon' will stand for the great principle that the poor are entitled to the same type of justice as those who are able to afford counsel.