The Gender of Gideon

This Article makes a simple claim that has been overlooked for decades and yet has enormous theoretical and practical significance: the constitutional guarantee of counsel adopted by the U.S. Supreme Court in Gideon v. Wainwright accrues largely to the benefit of men. In this Article, we present original data analysis demonstrating that millions of women face compulsory and highly punitive encounters with the justice system but do so largely in the civil courts, where no right to counsel attaches. The demographic picture that emerges is one in which the right to counsel skews heavily against women’s interests. As this Article shows, the gendered allocation of the right to counsel has individual and systemic consequences that play an underappreciated role in perpetuating racial and gender inequality. We revisit well-known doctrine, and, in contrast to all prior literature, we place gender at the center of the Court’s jurisprudence on the right to counsel. Liberty principles have been paramount in the Court’s opinions, but the liberty interests of women have been devalued. In Lassiter v. Department of Social Services, the Court refused to recognize the termination of a Black mother’s relationship with her child as deserving the right to counsel. Prior scholars have shown that the Gideon Court aimed to protect Black men from abuses of state power but protecting Black women from such abuse is nowhere in the Court’s jurisprudence. Since Lassiter, the Court has refused to recognize a constitutional guarantee of representation for civil defendants with fundamental interests at stake, and, we argue, available data suggest that the largest categories of these cases—family law, eviction, and debt collection—disproportionately affect Black women. As we show, the gendered deprivation of a right to counsel relegates women to a secondary legal status and impinges on the functioning of American democracy. Drawing on the example of housing deprivation, a highly visible collateral effect of the pandemic, we illustrate how lawyerless defendants are now the norm in the civil justice system, with women most severely impacted by this crisis. First, in the absence of government-appointed counsel, women’s individual rights are routinely trampled. Powerful governmental and private adversaries of these women have captured the civil courts, with the result that judges regularly fail to enforce even well-established law. Second, without lawyers, appeals are scarce, and the law fails to evolve in areas of particular importance to women’s lives. Third, women’s ability to act in the world, protected by the rule of law, has been disproportionately compromised by lack of access to representation, resulting in women’s entrenched subordination. Finally, without lawyers to serve as watchdogs in the civil courts, constitutional doctrine has rendered women’s most important legal problems invisible. This has undermined opportunities to identify the system’s shortcomings and agitate for reform

Educating for Informed Community Involvement

Service learning, which integrates community service into coursework, provides a pedagogical intervention that can promote the civic growth of students in unique and powerful ways. Research is reviewed that documents the capacity of service learning to meet learning objectives associated with a conceptual framework that focuses on the knowledge, skills, and dispositions of a civic-minded college graduate. The outcomes of service learning should facilitate these students assuming influential roles in helping others become empowered, and thereby are important for enhancing the quality of life in communities. We also review research that focuses on the impact of service learning for community outcomes. Finally, we present implications for teaching community psychology, and recommendations for future research on service learning and community engagement

Assessing Civic Mindedness

These models, although described using diverse language, share a worthwhile goal: to prepare American students to participate in democratic forums, even and especially in this time of economic need. Without this preparation, students may be rehearsing for work in a challenging economic environment without developing the critical skills they will need to build a new and more vibrant democratic society. In fact, the two goals are connected: As Martha Nussbaum has noted, "A flourishing economy requires the same skills that support citizenship" (2010). These skills include the ability to consider multiple angles, converse with those who hold different perspectives, and compromise to creatively solve urgent problems. Such are the habits that a liberal education engenders, and such education can help reverse our civic recession and inspire democratic engagement now and in the future

The Effects of Race, Gender, and Marital Status on Giving and Volunteering in Indiana

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of race, gender, and marital status on giving and volunteering behavior. A second purpose is to examine these effects across different survey methodologies. Using data from Indiana households, a multimethod, multigroup research design was used to compare giving and volunteering across eight different survey methodologies. Results indicate important differences in philanthropic behaviors by gender, race, marital status, and survey methodology—even when controlling for differences in income, age, and educational attainment. These results highlight the importance of looking specifically at human and social capital variables, and survey methodology, when making assumptions about and interpreting the measurement of philanthropic behavior

The Effects of Race, Gender, and Survey Methodologies on Giving in the US

This study examines the effects of race and gender on philanthropy and interaction effects between race or gender and survey methodologies. Results indicate differences in philanthropic behaviors by gender but not by race. We also find significant interaction effects between survey methodologies and race and gender, which may have important implications for social science research in which race and/or gender explain or predict behaviors

Service-Learning Research Primer

This research primer, created by the IUPUI Center for Service and Learning, is designed to address the need for information on how to conduct high-quality and rigorous research on service-learning. It reviews the literature base, appropriate research methodologies and measurement procedures, and available online resources

Civic-Minded Graduate: A North Star

Because of increased interest in higher education regarding the civic learning outcomes for college students and graduates, identifying and measuring civic learning outcomes is important to evaluating the efficacy of civic engagement programs and teaching strategies (e.g., service-learning). A conceptual framework for the Civic-Minded Graduate (CMG) construct is presented as well as three measurement procedures (i.e., CMG Scale, CMG Narrative Prompt and Rubric, CMG Interview Protocol and Rubric) that evaluate the construct. Results from three studies provide evidence of the psychometric properties of each measurement procedure and converging evidence to support the meaningfulness of the CMG construct. Implications of adopting the CMG as a “north star” for future research and practice are presented

A Methodological Comparison of Giving Surveys: Indiana as a Test Case

Every 4 years, the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University conducts a telephone survey (called Indiana Gives) of the giving and volunteering behaviors of Indiana citizens. In preparing to conduct Indiana Gives for 2000, a larger methodological question was asked: How much does survey methodology matter in generating accurate measures of giving and volunteering? In this most recent wave of the Indiana survey, conducted in October and November 2000, eight groups of approximately 100 randomly selected Indiana residents were asked to complete one of eight surveys related to giving and volunteering. It was found that the longer the module and the more detailed its prompts, the more likely a household was to recall making any charitable contribution and the higher the average level of its giving. These differences persisted even after controlling for differences in age, educational attainment, income, household status, race, and gender.ARNOV