The citizens of this republic have cherished, nurtured and promoted the virtues of a judicial process that has a singular guiding principle. That principle holds that any person should be able to come before the courts of this land and seek the fair use and application of the laws enacted by our "government of the people, by the people, for the people". Those laws are the enactment that citizens have established as the continual architects of our national society.
Deeply rooted in that society is a determined belief that our system of justice must operate as the greatest expression of the ideals upon which this nation was conceived. Each controversy that comes before our courts, large or small, is another opportunity to advance and affirm those ideals. Our citizens justifiably take pride in the realization that our commitment to fairness of process and result in our justice system places us at the pinnacle of the long evolution of the judicial process.
As a society of laws, paramount of which is the United States Constitution, we have empowered the United States Supreme Court to mold our fundamental concepts of justice to the ever changing needs of an increasingly complex society. Our highest court has often used its interpretive power to decide how to insure the fairness of our judicial process as that society evolves.
It has long been known that a citizen of a nation, standing alone, does not stand on equal footing with the awesome power of the government in any court. For this reason our courts and laws have determined that the assistance of an attorney was essential to insure the fundamental fairness of our judicial process in certain circumstances.
This is true because the opportunity and ability to be heard effectively in our courts depends entirely upon the equality of the opposing proponents. A person whose liberty is both guaranteed and challenged by the state is entitled to muster resources equal to that which the state uses against him. Although our courts and laws do not mandate the use of attorneys in all cases, nor provide for their assistance under all circumstances, it can be said that where liberty is at stake, our constitution insures the effective assistance of counsel for its citizens and persons within its borders. The Law Offices of the Public Defender for the County of Riverside provides its services precisely for these purposes and principles. We are the guiding hand to preserve human dignity in cases where citizens liberties are at stake.
