A Right With No Standard: The Crisis of Adequate Counsel in Capital Cases

Abstract

“A Right With No Standard: The Crisis of Adequate Counsel in Capital Cases,” criticizes the persistent lack of uniform standards governing legal representation in capital cases and argues that these disparities undermine the criminal legal system as a whole. It highlights the various differences in state qualification standard which allow attorneys to represent a defendant in a capital case. Even further, this Article points to the lack of mitigation specialist requirements in a majority of states. To effectively safeguard a defendant’s constitutional rights, this Article urges that the American Bar Association revise its Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death Penalty Cases to consider existing priorities of states who impose stricter threshold requirements. This Article thereafter urges that states to uniformly adopt these revised Guidelines as a national baseline standard for capital defense