On March 18, 1963, in its historic decision in Gideon v. Wainwright, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded that in order to ensure equal justice in criminal cases states must provide a lawyer for people who cannot afford to hire one. The ruling established under the Sixth and 14th Amendments the constitutional right to counsel, assuring that the poor should never again have to face judges and prosecutors alone.

But today equal justice for all remains elusive, as public defense systems in many parts of the country have not made it a priority to provide competent and effective legal representation or lack the resources, standards, and independence necessary to do so. Some poor people languish for months before obtaining only perfunctory counsel, often a brief conversation with a court-appointed attorney with an unmanageable caseload. Others are never appointed a lawyer at all—proving that 40 years after the Supreme Court's decision in Gideon, states continue to ignore their mandate to provide constitutionally adequate representation for the poor.

To mark the 40th anniversary of Gideon, OSI convened a panel of criminal justice advocates to assess its impact over the past four decades. While the panelists all felt that the Gideon decision is a watershed for indigent defense, they also recognized that its true promise has not come close to being fulfilled.