Gideon's Anniversary– A Time for Meaningful Discussions and Action, Brennan Center Audience is Told

ALBANY, NY (04/10/2013)(readMedia)-- In a panel discussion at John Jay College of Criminal Justice last night commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the United States Supreme Court's landmark right-to-counsel case, Gideon v Wainwright, New York State Defenders Association Executive Director Jonathan E. Gradess called for a broad partnership to fix New York State's broken public defense system.

Gradess alerted those attending the event, "Reforming Gideon at 50," to the fact that while minimal structural reforms have occurred here in the last seven years, the plight of clients has remained the same as when a statewide report highlighted deficiencies. Poor people throughout the state go without representation, without investigation of their cases, and without the adequate utilization of experts, he said. Public defense lawyers striving to fulfill Gideon's promise to their clients are stressed beyond compare ? caseloads are up and the capacity to deliver services worse than ever before in many locales.

These problems are raised in ongoing litigation by the New York Civil Liberties Union, Gradess noted. "It is essential that in the next six months the lawsuit brought against New York be the subject of meaningful settlement discussions and negotiations," he reiterated afterward, "that we may all work as partners with the corporate, public, and private community with government in making the best possible public defense system in the country." He concluded, "it can be done; all that it takes is the political will to do it."

The panel of state and national advocates and experts was moderated by David Carroll, Executive Director of the Sixth Amendment Center, who wrote the Afterword to Chasing Gideon, a new book by Karen Houppert, who also participated. Other panel members were Gloria Browne-Marshall, Associate Professor at John Jay, and Thomas Giovanni, Counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice.

The event was sponsored by the Brennan Center, John Jay's Center on Media, Crime, and Justice, and The New Press.