Travis Williams Research Paper

J\t first viewing of the doetnnentary ·"Gideon·s Army.· you tnay become overwhelmed by the dire situation of the criminal justice systen1 in the South. specifically with regard to the poorer and less educated population. To observe how stressed the public defenders are, how tapped the resources. and how desperate the defendantsyou struggle with the notion that there tnay not be anything that can be done and its too big a problem to overcome. But delving into the professional. and, at tirnes, personal life of Travis Williams, a public defender in Georgia, you feel determination and hope. Williams advocates for each client with passion and diligence.
I le is fully aware or his situation yet greets each day with new fire and energy.

Once a student is labeled as a troublemaker, the connotation tends to remain with that student. Mental illness n1ay be present, either in the child or in the adult caregiverswhich contributes to a child's distorted formation of morality or absence of focus on future goals. !\juvenile n1ay rnerely be wrongly accused of a crime, and because legal assistance is lin1ited or nonexistent, there is no repairing the damage that has been done. As that child becomes an adult. he/she has been given inadequate skills to thrive and prosper: accessing health care. contraception, higher education. ernployn1ent, and counseling are all components of adult and family life to which the rnore educated and aftluent population are accustomed. How can we expect an adult who has been denied the rudimentary building blocks to become a successful, productive mernber of society when that same person has had a drastically different foundation than his n1iddle or upper class counterpart? How can we be absolutely sure that each offender has actually cmnmitted a crime if it is just assumed that because he/she is ·"in the systen1·· it is due to habitual offenses? It is in1perative that we scrutinize how each person has becorne a part of the crin1inalj ustice system and equalize the playing field in order to equalize the treatment or each