Current Affairs14 Des 2021

Does the Right to Counsel Actually Exist In the U.S.?

Today's guest is Stephen Bright, one of the best criminal defense attorneys in the United States. Prof. Bright teaches at Yale Law School and Georgetown Law, but has spent most of his life working as an advocate for poor people accused of serious crimes. During his decades in charge of the Southern Center For Human Rights, he argued multiple times in front of the U.S. Supreme Court and represented defendants some of the most difficult death penalty cases. Today we discuss the status of the right to a lawyer in the United States. Constitutionally, everyone is guaranteed an adequate defense, but in practice, the amount of representation one gets is based on the amount of money one can spend, and public defenders offices vary wildly across the country. Nobody is better familiar with the situation than Prof. Bright, whose writings include:

Counsel for the Poor: The Death Penalty Not for the Worst Crime But for the Worst Lawyer (1994)

Fifty Years of Defiance and Resistance After Gideon v. Wainwright (2013) (w/ Sia Sanneh)

Prof. Bright has produced an entire 40-part online course on issues of race and class as they apply to capital punishment, which is available for free on YouTube:

Capital Punishment: Race, Poverty, and Disadvantage

More of his work defending capital cases can be seen in the 2005 documentary film Fighting For Life In The Death Belt, which can be viewed free online.

His lecture to Stanford law students on the ethical responsibilities of lawyers can be viewed here.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(600)

Before Bernie and Mamdani, There Was Eugene Debs

🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membershipShawn Gude is the former editor of Jacobin and author of American Socialist: The Life and Legacy of ...

9 Okt 43min

The Consultants Will Kill You

🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membershipIn Michigan and Maine, a tale of two campaigns.🌹 Full article by Nathan J. Robinson: https://www.cu...

8 Okt 19min

In Praise of Suit Socialism

🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membershipIf there’s a visual language that connotes credibility and authority, why not take advantage of it?�...

5 Okt 17min

Democrats Paved the Way for Fascism — Jennifer Welch on MAGA, Socialism, and Political Revolution

🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership Jennifer Welch, co-host of I’ve Had It and author of Not Today, Fascists, joins Current Affairs ed...

29 Sep 43min

Israel Is Stealing the West Bank in Plain Sight (w/ Jasper Nathaniel)

🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membershipJasper Nathaniel is an independent journalist who recently returned from reporting in the occupied W...

19 Sep 36min

How 9/11 Normalized Endless War

🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership CODEPINK co-founders Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans, along with national co-director Danaka Katovi...

15 Sep 45min

How Trump Made a Broken DOJ Even Worse

🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership Rachel Cohen is an attorney and organizer who previously resigned from the law firm Skadden Arps a...

9 Sep 31min

MAGA Stole Animal Rights from the Left

🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership Astra Taylor is a writer, activist, and co-author of End Times Fascism, and Aaron Regunberg is a cl...

2 Sep 49min