The Fear of Too Much Justice: Stephen Bright & James Kwak

September 28, 2023

September 28th, 2023

“The fundamental problem is that we do not have a level playing field between the prosecution and the defense.”

Stephen Bright and James Kwak are co-authors of The Fear of Too Much Justice: Race, Poverty, and the Persistence of Inequality in the Criminal Courts. Stephen Bright has been an advocate for death row inmates for four decades and was the long-time director of the Southern Center for Human Rights, where James Kwak is the immediate past chair.

We do not have a level playing field between the prosecution and the defense. Inequality and injustice in the criminal legal system is made worse by the widespread lack of capable defense attorneys for poor people. If you're accused of a crime, a good lawyer can tell you what your rights are and can conduct an investigation to uncover new facts that might show your innocence. Unsurprisingly, over 90% of convictions are acquired through plea bargains, instead of through trials.

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