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LEGAL REPRESENTATION AND SOCIAL CLASS

Legal Representation and Social Class

How does geographic location play a role in the quality of representation provided

by the public defender?

According to Bright the quality of representation is different throughout the country

and greatly depends on the level of funding to public defense systems. Bright gives the

example of Colorado with its well-funded state Public Defender program where expert

consultation resources are available. However in other states, like Alabama this system is

absent at all. Public defenders work for very small salaries which affects the quality of their

representation (Bright, 2012).

How does the overburdened public defense system in many areas contribute to

issues of wrongful conviction?

Bright compares the public defense system to a fast food restaurant that proceeds

people instead of defending them. This impacts wrongful conviction throughout the country.

Lawyers who work for overburdened public defense system have to deal with hundreds of

different cases at the same time, so they spend as little time as possible on each case to be

able to handle a lot of them. The majority of such cases are resolved at the first hearing,

where the defendant meets the public defender for the first time and has not enough time to

communicate. As a result even a person who is falsely accused can be pled guilty (Bright,

2012).

Contrast the legal representation described by Bright to the level of representation

available to white-collar, corporate, and environmental crimes.

White-collar and corporate crimes are never committed by poor people. The most

common motive for these crimes is not need, but greed. Rich people do not need public

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LEGAL REPRESENTATION AND SOCIAL CLASS

defenders to represent them in the court. They hire leading criminal defense lawyer who has

other lawyers and investigators working on the case and do everything possible for the

defendant to be declared not guilty (Hagan, 1992). Paradoxical, as it may seem, but

sometimes it is better to be guilty and rich than to be innocent and poor.

This discussion highlights two issues: wrongful conviction and the overburdened

public defender system. How can these problems be solved?

There exist two solutions for the above mentioned problems. The first consists in

increasing the funding for the public defense systems, which will allow hiring more lawyers

and strengthens their interest in solving cases. The second solution involves changing the way

how public defenders approach working with their clients. A client should not be treated as a

criminal case only. The defender should examine the underlying causes of involvement of the

justice system and try to stop the cycle of criminal justice system contact.

References

Bright, S. (2012). Interview. The Quality Of A Legal Defense: Does It Matter If You're Rich

Or Poor?

Hagan, J. (1992). The Poverty of a Classless Criminology, Criminology, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp.

1-13.

Reiman, J. (1996). And the Poor Get Prison: Economic Bias in American Criminal Justice,

Allyn & Bacon.