There's no question that the "justice" system is just completely broken. The only reason we even comply with it at all is not a sense that it is creating peace and order in society, but simply that the people who administer it are hellishly violent to people who try not to comply (or, in some cases, even people who are just merely critical, as evinced by, for example, retaliatory actions taking by police departments in response to facebook posts).<p>Nevertheless, articles like this are good for putting things into focus. The graphic showing the assessment that "Mr. Talaska needed to do the work of five full-time lawyers to serve all of his clients" is convincing and powerful.<p>But at the end of the day, the question is this: what are we going to do in order to replace this system? Can we effectively build an alternate system (perhaps based on restorative justice) in parallel, and then hope for a clean drop-in replacement? Is there precedent for such a thing in history?<p>A runaway justice system seems like such a difficult thing to fix, but I think it's becoming clearer and clearer that it's a top priority for the health and direction of the United States, if they are to survive at all.
Someone needs to make the argument that if the defense attorney does not have the same budget per case as the prosecutor that it's essentially like not having an attorney.<p>The government wants it both ways.<p>Corporations are people and money = speech.<p>However, if you're poor, and have no money to defend yourself, it doesn't matter because the government essentially gives you a few dollars.<p>They're giving you a FRACTION of a lawyer.<p>I don't want a court appointed attorney. If I can't afford a lawyer the courts should give me a budget to hire my own lawyer.
As a US citizen, it's honestly embarrassing. The high volume also means prosecutors get to use plea deals as extortion, even when they have no chance of actually prosecuting. Then there's also the awful state of our bail/jail/prison system.<p>It seems like the demographics are changing enough that we could actually start changing our punishment (vs rehabilitation) centric justice system.<p>We're now close to 1% of the adult population in prison, and 2% on probation. I wonder what the percentage of <i>"was ever in prison, or had an immediate family member in prison"</i> is.
"A Naked Singularity," Sergio De La Pava's debut novel — a fictionalized account of his life as a public defender in Manhattan (self-published in 2008) that went on to win the PEN Prize for Debut Fiction in 2013 after being commercially re-published in 2012 — is superb. From Wikipedia: "He works as a public defender in Manhattan, where he handles 70 to 80 cases at a time." See: <a href="http://quarterlyconversation.com/a-naked-singularity-by-sergio-de-la-pava" rel="nofollow">http://quarterlyconversation.com/a-naked-singularity-by-serg...</a>
In some places if they run out of public defenders they hire a private attorney to act as one and they get paid a straight fee per case, no matter if the defendant pleads guilty on day one or it takes years. There is no better way to incentivize a public defender to push for a plea bargain.
louisiana might be the worst place in the country to encounter the justice system. fun fact: it’s prohibited to seek damages if you’re exonerated after you’ve been imprisoned by them
As a law student (in a civil law jurisdiction) aspiring to become a criminal attorney, this is sickening. It's a machine that is crushing individuals who stand almost no chance. It's wrong in so many places, I don't even know where to begin with.<p>Whether it's the well known plea deal business that renders courts and trial by jury useless plea by plea; or the money public defenders earn; or the way prisons work in the US (by focusing on punishment and locking up, rather than resocialising) and so on and so forth.<p>Everybody deserves a fair trial. I think in the US it's even in the Bill of Rights or its amendments. You maybe fucked up in live at one point and very often it's due to circumstances that are out of your hands. But you still are a human and you still deserve to be treated with respect.
My god, I feel for these people. When you read stuff like this, you have to wonder why anyone is a public defender and grateful that people sign up. It seems soul crushing even for the most idealistic of people. The caseload results in situations beyond your control that can punish you. I also have to wonder if one of the reasons why we have so many people in jail is because we have hugely overworked public defenders.
Never ever be caught up in the criminal justice system without your own lawyer that you have paid for, period. In fact they should sell some cheap insurance for this purpose.