 The Scottsboro Boys case was among the most important civil rights cases in the history of American jurisprudence.It was twice appealed to the United States Supreme Court and established the principles that, in the United States, criminal defendants are entitled to effective assistance of counsel and that people may not be "de facto" excluded from juries due to their race.In 1931 nine black youths, ranging in age from twelve to twenty, were accused in Scottsboro of raping two white women, Victoria Price and Ruby Bates, one of whom would later recant her accusation.