TOEFL Experts Reading Practice 33
The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides a set of rights to people accused of crimes—including, most famously, the right to counsel. This right specifies that people accused of crimes are entitled to be represented by an attorney. It is the most well-known right granted by the Sixth Amendment, and the reason may be that, according to the Supreme Court, it is the most important of the Sixth Amendment rights. In the 1984 case United States v. Cronic, which was a case about how to interpret the Sixth Amendment’s right to counsel, the Supreme Court wrote, “Of all the rights that an accused person has, the right to be represented by counsel is by far the most pervasive, for it affects his ability to assert any other rights he may have.”
Today, the Sixth Amendment entitles all people of any age (including juveniles, or children under the age of 18) to legal representation (an attorney) when they face potential imprisonment through criminal proceedings. The attorney must be available at every “critical stage” of the person’s legal case, and the attorney must also provide “effective representation.” In the 1963 case Gideon v. Wainwright, the Supreme Court ruled that this right must be provided by the states. The states may delegate the obligation to smaller governmental entities within, such as counties and cities, but they must make sure that the counties and cities are able to fulfill their duty, so that the right is not violated by any level of government.
The Sixth Amendment changed the landscape of criminal justice in the United States. Prior to its adoption, criminal cases looked very different. Victims, not government officials (prosecutors), typically brought cases against the people they accused of committing a crime against them. Now, it is the government that brings a criminal case—the victim may be a witness who testifies, but he or she is not one of the two “parties” to the case. Before the adoption of the Sixth Amendment, typically neither side was represented by a lawyer in a criminal case. Finally, criminal trials were much shorter prior to the Sixth Amendment. Instead of weeks or even months, such trials lasted only minutes or hours. It was when lawyers became integral to the process that trials became longer and increased in complexity.
As the United States criminal justice system expanded and grew more complicated, trials became more expensive to conduct, and the system became congested by the number of cases. It is at least in part for this reason—to save time and money—that the “plea bargain” emerged. A plea bargain is an agreement between the prosecution and the defense. Under the “plea,” the defendant agrees to plead guilty or “no contest” in exchange for sentencing for a lesser offense, which generally results in a shorter sentence or less severe penalty.
The trend toward plea bargaining began in the 1800s, but it was in the 1900s that plea bargains began to dominate the criminal justice process in the United States. By the 1930s, 90 percent of convictions were achieved through plea bargains. At that time, federal prosecutions under the Prohibition Act, which outlawed alcohol consumption (among other related things), had become so numerous that the only way of moving cases through the system seemed to be to encourage those accused of minor offenses to accept lighter penalties. Today, that percentage is even higher and includes all levels of offenses, not just minor ones. In 2013, more than 97 percent of federal cases that were not dismissed were resolved through plea bargaining. That means less than 3 percent went to trial. When state cases are added, the combined percentage of cases that are resolved through plea bargains hovers around 90 to 95 percent.
The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides a set of rights to people accused of crimes—including, most famously, the right to counsel. This right specifies that people accused of crimes are entitled to be represented by an attorney. It is the most well-known right granted by the Sixth Amendment, and the reason may be that, according to the Supreme Court, it is the most important of the Sixth Amendment rights. In the 1984 case United States v. Cronic, which was a case about how to interpret the Sixth Amendment’s right to counsel, the Supreme Court wrote, “Of all the rights that an accused person has, the right to be represented by counsel is by far the most pervasive, for it affects his ability to assert any other rights he may have.”
Today, the Sixth Amendment entitles all people of any age (including juveniles, or children under the age of 18) to legal representation (an attorney) when they face potential imprisonment through criminal proceedings. The attorney must be available at every “critical stage” of the person’s legal case, and the attorney must also provide “effective representation.” In the 1963 case Gideon v. Wainwright, the Supreme Court ruled that this right must be provided by the states. The states may delegate the obligation to smaller governmental entities within, such as counties and cities, but they must make sure that the counties and cities are able to fulfill their duty, so that the right is not violated by any level of government.
The Sixth Amendment changed the landscape of criminal justice in the United States. Prior to its adoption, criminal cases looked very different. Victims, not government officials (prosecutors), typically brought cases against the people they accused of committing a crime against them. Now, it is the government that brings a criminal case—the victim may be a witness who testifies, but he or she is not one of the two “parties” to the case. Before the adoption of the Sixth Amendment, typically neither side was represented by a lawyer in a criminal case. Finally, criminal trials were much shorter prior to the Sixth Amendment. Instead of weeks or even months, such trials lasted only minutes or hours. It was when lawyers became integral to the process that trials became longer and increased in complexity.
As the United States criminal justice system expanded and grew more complicated, trials became more expensive to conduct, and the system became congested by the number of cases. It is at least in part for this reason—to save time and money—that the “plea bargain” emerged. A plea bargain is an agreement between the prosecution and the defense. Under the “plea,” the defendant agrees to plead guilty or “no contest” in exchange for sentencing for a lesser offense, which generally results in a shorter sentence or less severe penalty.
The trend toward plea bargaining began in the 1800s, but it was in the 1900s that plea bargains began to dominate the criminal justice process in the United States. By the 1930s, 90 percent of convictions were achieved through plea bargains. At that time, federal prosecutions under the Prohibition Act, which outlawed alcohol consumption (among other related things), had become so numerous that the only way of moving cases through the system seemed to be to encourage those accused of minor offenses to accept lighter penalties. Today, that percentage is even higher and includes all levels of offenses, not just minor ones. In 2013, more than 97 percent of federal cases that were not dismissed were resolved through plea bargaining. That means less than 3 percent went to trial. When state cases are added, the combined percentage of cases that are resolved through plea bargains hovers around 90 to 95 percent.
- The Sixth Amendment, especially its declaration of the right to counsel, changed criminal justice in the United States.