Implications of Gideon v. Wainwright on American Society

“Your Honor, I request this Court to appoint counsel to represent me in this trial,”1 stated defendant Clearance Earl Gideon before the Judicial Circuit Court of Florida. The court replied, “Mr. Gideon, I am sorry, but I cannot appoint counsel to represent you in this case. Under the laws of the State of Florida, the only time the court can appoint counsel to represent a Defendant is when that person is charged with a capital offense. I am sorry, but I will have to deny your request for counsel to defend you in this case.”2 Before 1963 there was no standard in American state courts requiring counsel as an essential fundamental right. Gideon v Wainwright is a landmark case in Supreme Court history because it was a vital step in the fight for the right to legal counsel. The court unanimously ruled that all state courts were required under the Sixth Amendment, of the United States Constitution, to provide counsel in all criminal cases for defendants who were not able to afford counsel.3 Gideon overruled a twenty year old Supreme Court decision in Betts v Brady by establishing that due process as incorporated in the Fourteenth Amendment obligated the states to furnish counsel in every case. Gideon v Wainwright has helped to remove vulnerabilities and ambiguities in the criminal justice system. It further protects American society by helping to provide an egalitarian system of administering justice, setting a clear standard for state courts to follow and allowing room for future developments in the right to counsel

Behavior of First-Year College Students

This is a quantitative study of depression, self-esteem, smoking and drinking behaviors among first year college students. The study results from a sample of 170 first year undergraduate students at the University of New Hampshire. Using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale, and the Short Alcohol Dependence Data (SADD) scale, results show that sex significantly predicts depression, even when controlling for self-esteem, alcohol scale scores, and smoking. Being female is associated with higher depression scores. When measuring self-esteem, results show that self-esteem is significantly associated with depression. Lower self-esteem is significantly associated with higher depression. Results also show that alcohol use significantly increases depression among males, but not females which indicates that other factors are perhaps associated with depression for females. Larger implications of this research suggest incorporating all academic standing students for more diverse results