‘Forensic Fridays:’ Legal Representation for the Indigent

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the 1963 landmark case Gideon v. Wainwright that the Sixth Amendment mandates states provide free counsel to criminal defendants who can’t afford to hire an attorney. However, numerous questions remain about how uniformly justice is actually delivered. The issue is particularly relevant in states like Pennsylvania, where county governments must fund public defenders.

Jon Rapping
Jon Rapping

This compelling topic will be at the center of The Right to Counsel: Safe or Under Siege?, the next session of Duquesne’s Forensic Fridays seminar series, Friday, April 16, at 9 a.m. via Zoom.

Guest speaker Jonathan Rapping, founder and president of Gideon’s Promise, a nonprofit organization of public defenders that provides equal justice for marginalized communities, will join other presenters in examining topics including the death penalty, the right to counsel at summary trials as well as gender, ethnic and racial equity.

Additional presenters include:

  • Duquesne Associate Law Professor John Rago
  • Duquesne Adjunct Forensic Science and Law Professor Michael Machen
  • Former Allegheny County Assistant District Attorney Finn Skovdal
  • Former chief appellate counsel for the Allegheny County Public Defender Suzanne Swan.

Registration is required for the event. The Pennsylvania Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Board has approved this course for two hours of substantive and one hour of ethics CLE credit.

The Right to Counsel is hosted by the Cyril H. Wecht Institute of Forensic Science and Law, in partnership with the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts and the School of Law.