The Systemic Bias of Criminal Justice

The poor and especially the poor and black are incarcerated at exponentially greater levels now than when Gideon was decided. The vast over representation of the poor in America's prisons appears more like a narrative about personal responsibility than an indictment of criminal justice. If more poor people are represented by lawyers because of Gideon arguably their trials or plea bargains are fairer than before as they did not have lawyers. It is hard to see what you could say as an individual who gets arrested saying but you read your Miranda rights.