ABSTRACT
The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees that every defendant in a criminal trial shall have the right to the assistance of counsel. From 1984 to 2000, not a single claim of ineffective assistance of counsel succeeded on appeal, which led to upholding guilty verdicts where counsel’s performance was grossly negligent. The right to effective assistance of counsel only has meaning if there is a legal remedy available to defendants whose counsel fails to provide minimally competent representation. There is a more fundamental problem with Strickland that has rendered the Sixth Amendment guarantee illusory in many instances: the prejudice prong. Addressing the injustice occasioned by ineffective assistance of counsel can lead to a more profound injustice – the release of inmates who have committed horrible crimes.
