Running Head: Right to Counsel Paper

Right to Counsel Paper By: University of Phoenix Course: CJ364 Instructor: Darrick Kinchen Date: December 05, 2011

Right to Counsel Paper
The right to counsel is a right that was largely developed in the 20th century; this right has become an expectation through many court cases. One also may enjoy the right to represent themselves in a criminal proceeding. In the following it will be discussed about the developments of these rights and additionally the role of an attorney in the criminal justice system will be discussed as it applies to the right to counsel.
Zalman (2008) “The twentieth-century growth of urban populations and bureaucratic, multi-judge courts required that ad hoc methods of providing lawyers for indigents be replaced with more formal legal aid and defender systems. Some cities and states began to do this in the early twentieth century. But under the U.S. Constitution, there was no obligation in federal or state criminal trials that the government, which was prosecuting the defendant, had any obligation to ensure a fair trial by providing defense counsel. In 1932, the Supreme Court began to define the right to counsel.”
In Powell V. Alabama this case set a benchmark for the right to counsel, as in before this case in 19322 there was never set any right to counsel by the Supreme Court upon the states. However the state of Alabama argued that the boys in the trial had access to counsel thus meet the requirement to right to counsel. The Supreme Court concluded that the denial of right to counsel was not the question here. With this case the question was whether the boys had an opportunity to contact their families out of state,