The normative case for indigent defense systems

Today, every indigent person accused of a crime, where incarceration is a reasonably possible sentence, has the right to counsel apppointed by the State. From an historical perspective, this right is relatively new, since it has only evolved over the last 50 years and is the result of a variety of decisions by the Supreme Court of the United States. In essence, the States have developed three mechanisms to comply with these decisions: (1) Assigned Counsel Systems; (2) Contract Counsel Systems; and (3) Public Defender Systems. This paper (a) reviews the decisions applicable to indigents; (b) reviews existing indigent defense delivery systems; and (c) concludes that the independent State Public Defender Agency is the best system available from the perspectives of both the taxpayer and the defendant. In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him: to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence (U.S. Constitution, Amendment VI).     

Women's empowerment revisited: a case study from Bangladesh

This article explores the changing dimensions of women's empowerment over time in three Bangladesh villages where one of the authors has been conducting research since 1991. The article discusses theoretical issues related to the measurement of women's empowerment, and describes findings from a recent study in the villages exploring the current salience of indicators developed for a 1992 survey. In the article we discuss the types of social, economic, and political change that affect the measurement of women's empowerment; propose and explain a new set of indicators for the rural Bangladesh setting; and discuss implications for measuring women's empowerment in other settings.     

<Emphasis Type="BoldItalic">Society’s</Emphasis> Books of Note

Society’s Books of Note

Society’s Books of Note November/December 2010     

Strange Bedfellows: How an Anticipatory Countermovement Brought Same‐Sex Marriage into the Public Arena

Since the 1980s, social movement scholars have investigated the dynamic of movement/countermovement interaction. Most of these studies posit movements as initiators, with countermovements reacting to their challenges. Yet sometimes a movement supports an agenda in response to a countermovement that engages in what we call “anticipatory countermobilization.” We interviewed ten leading LGBT activists to explore the hypothesis that the LGBT movement was brought to the fight for marriage equality by the anticipatory countermobilization of social conservatives who opposed same‐sex marriage before there was a realistic prospect that it would be recognized by the courts or political actors. Our findings reinforce the existing scholarship, but also go beyond it in emphasizing a triangular relationship among social movement organizations, countermovement organizations, and grassroots supporters of same‐sex marriage. More broadly, the evidence suggests the need for a more reciprocal understanding of the relations among movements, countermovements, and sociolegal change.