In Gideon v. Wainwright—the landmark 1963 ruling that led to the creation of the public defense system—the Supreme Court declared that “lawyers in criminal courts are necessities, not luxuries.” Yet sixty years later, indigent defense in the United States remains precarious at best. Some would go so far as to say that Gideon helped to legitimize our brutal system of pleas and punishment—by ensuring that there’s a cadre of public defenders to process the millions who cycle through our nation’s jails and prisons every year.

In the struggle against the harms of the carceral state, Inquest recognizes the limits of the public defense system—and of other actors in the criminal legal system. Yet we also recognize that public defenders, by being among the closest to the people and communities harmed by mass incarceration, have a valuable role in working toward a world without it. By running for office, advocating for decarceral legislation, and getting the attention of the Supreme Court, public defenders can—and do—fight for change.

Beyond Gideon is our attempt to broaden this lens. In this series, we address questions about the role of public defense in challenging mass incarceration, and the conversations required to move that work forward.

We open with a reading list of archival essays examining how public defenders fit in the current system. Over the next two weeks, in recognition of the sixtieth anniversary of the Gideon ruling, we will add a five-part series of new essays from people invested in thinking through the role of public defenders in bringing about a decarceral future.

—March 2023

Essays in Beyond Gideon: