The People's Share

GED Social Studies · Drill III.06

Cases on the rights of the accused: Mapp, Gideon, Miranda

Family III: Rights, Citizens, and Politics · Map topic 22

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Worked examples

Two examples

Example 1

A man is charged with a felony in a Manhattan court. He earns very little and cannot pay a lawyer. The court assigns him a public defender, a lawyer paid by the government.Which Supreme Court case requires the state to do this?
  1. Name the right at stake. The man needs a lawyer. In the Sixth Amendment, a lawyer is called “counsel.”
  2. Now match the right to the case. Mapp v. Ohio is about illegal searches. Miranda v. Arizona is about warnings before police questioning. Gideon v. Wainwright is about a lawyer.
  3. In Gideon v. Wainwright (1963), the Court ruled unanimously that a state must provide a lawyer to a person accused of a serious crime who cannot afford one.
  4. Public defender systems grew out of that decision. So the case is Gideon v. Wainwright.

Answer: Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)

Example 2

At a trial in a Bronx courtroom, the prosecutor wants to show the jury a bag of stolen jewelry. The defense lawyer shows that the police found it by breaking into the defendant’s apartment with no warrant, no consent, and no emergency.Which case says the jewelry cannot be used, and what is that rule called?
  1. Name the right at stake. The police searched a home with no warrant, no consent, and no emergency. That is an unreasonable search, under the Fourth Amendment.
  2. Now ask what happens to evidence found that way. In Mapp v. Ohio (1961), police in Cleveland searched Dollree Mapp’s home without a valid warrant, and the Supreme Court ruled that evidence taken in an illegal search cannot be used in a state court.
  3. The rule is called the exclusionary rule, because the evidence is excluded, meaning kept out of the trial.
  4. Terry v. Ohio is also a Fourth Amendment case from Cleveland, but it is about a brief stop and pat-down on the street, not about keeping evidence out of a trial.

Answer: Mapp v. Ohio, and the exclusionary rule

Where this is taught: Civics, Chapter 7: Fourth Amendment cases · Civics, Chapter 7: Fifth Amendment cases · Civics, Chapter 7: Sixth Amendment case

In your Kaplan book: Unit 3, Chapter 3, Lesson 2: Constitutional Government · Map of the Terrain, topic 22: Amendments 2 to 10

The drill

Ten questions

How many:

Read each question, and any reading or table in its box. Then tap your answer; a few questions ask you to choose words from a drop-down instead, the way the GED test does. Press Check my answers at the bottom.Read each question, and any reading or table in its box. Circle your answer; where there are brackets, circle the choice that fits. The answer key, with the reasoning, is on the last page.

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