Society and Law Presentations

In small group today, we watched presentations.  One that stood out to me was Gideon v Wainwright.  In this case, someone spotted Gideon walking near a place that had just been robbed with loads of cash in his hand.  He was turned in and automatically arrested.  When he went to Court, he could not afford a lawyer, and as a result he had to defend himself.  Starting off right here, I feel like many rights are being violated.  With him being arrested just for suspicion of the robbery goes agains the idea of "innocent until proven guilty," and I don't feel like that is enough evidence to throw someone in jail.  Second, the court is not supplying Gideon with a lawyer breaking the sixth Amendment. He ended up going to jail for about two years, where he studied law, and then took his case to Court again.  The court ruled in favor of Gideon that his sixth Amendment rights were broken, and the case was to held all over again.  I think this is important in showing that if people have a problem with something, then they have to take action to make a change.