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7 Harv. L. & Pol'y Rev. 1 (2013)
Foreword

handle is hein.journals/harlpolrv7 and id is 1 raw text is: Foreword Jeanne Charn* I. CIVIL GIDEON AND LEGAL SERVICES IN AMERICA This symposium volume of the Harvard Law & Policy Review cele- brates the fiftieth anniversary of Gideon v. Wainwright,' the landmark Su- preme Court decision that required states to provide counsel for indigent defendants in criminal proceedings. It is clear that Gideon continues to have force and relevance for criminal defendants. Indeed, in 1967, the Supreme Court extended Gideon to youth defendants,2 and in two decisions last term, the Court affirmed the right to effective assistance of counsel at the plea bargain stage. However, there is no parallel right to counsel in civil matters. The Su- preme Court has had two opportunities to find a right to counsel in civil cases of great consequence for the parties involved-a proceeding to termi- nate a mother's parental rights4 and a civil contempt proceeding for nonpay- ment of child support in which a father faced prison. In both cases, the Court found that the defendant had no right to counsel. Civil Gideon efforts in state courts and legislatures have not fared much better. Progress has largely been limited to state statutes that primarily focus on proceedings in- volving intervention in parent-child relations (e.g., the termination of paren- tal rights or the removal of children from parental care in instances of neglect or abuse) and proceedings that seek to curtail the freedom or per- sonal choice of adults (e.g., petitions for civil commitment, involuntary ster- ilizations, or appointments of substitute decision makers on health or financial matters).' While opinions might differ about the present health and future pros- pects of legal services in the United States, there is scant evidence that the country is moving towards a civil Gideon. In this regard, the United States, the largest and wealthiest Western democracy, stands alone among its peers. Government-funded legal aid programs of many common law countries (e.g., the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and most Cana- dian provinces) and civil law countries (e.g., the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Norway, and Finland) guarantee access to an attorney in a wide * Senior Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law School; Director, Bellow-Sacks Access to Civil Legal Services Project. ' 372 U.S. 335 (1963). 2 In re Gault, 387 U.S. 1 (1967). Lafler v. Cooper, 132 S. Ct. 1376 (2012); Missouri v. Frye, 132 S. Ct. 1399 (2012). 4 Lassiter v. Dep't of Soc. Servs., 452 U.S. 18 (1981). Turner v. Rogers, 131 S. Ct. 2507 (2011). 6 See Laura K. Abel & Max Rettig, State Statutes Providing for a Right to Counsel in Civil Cases, 40 CLEARINGHOUSE REv. 245, 252-70 (2006) (collecting right-to-counsel statutes across the United States).

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