279

If You Can’t Afford an Attorney, One Will Be Appointed. And You May Get a Huge Bill (www.themarshallproject.org)

submitted 4 months ago by gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

33 comments fedilink hide all child comments

On television and in the movies, police officers read people their Miranda rights and tell them they will be provided a lawyer if they cannot afford one. But in reality, legal representation is rarely free. The Supreme Court has found the Constitution guarantees the right to counsel but allows states, in most cases, to try to recoup the cost. More than 40 do so, according to a 2022 report by the National Legal Aid and Defender Association.

Iowa takes these efforts to the extremes, an investigation by The Marshall Project found. Not only does Iowa impose some of the highest fees in the nation — affecting tens of thousands of people each year — it also charges poor people for legal aid even if they are acquitted or the cases against them are dropped.

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20240212131540/https://www.themarshallproject.org/2024/02/12/miranda-rights-indigent-defense-iowa

all 34 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] AdamEatsAss@lemmy.world 65 points 4 months ago

Even more messed up is pay-to-stay prisons in the "land of the free". American culture loves to be "tough" on crime, then anyone who supports helping those found guilty or accused is immediately labeled as a criminal as well, because "why would you want to help a convict unless you're one too?"

[-] SinningStromgald@lemmy.world 47 points 4 months ago

The point of the US prison system is to keep as many people as possible incarcerated as long as possible or as often as possible. We don't want to reform them or reintegrate them into society.

[-] Lemjukes@lemm.ee 12 points 4 months ago

We had to replace slavery with somethi…. Well… still slavery but with some extra steps.

[-] Meowoem@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 months ago

I wonder if human labour becoming worthless due to automation will result in prison reform or if it's more sinister and actually it's pretty much just a scam to get government money into the hands of private businesses via lucrative contracts

[-] GFGJewbacca@lemm.ee 7 points 4 months ago

Of course, because they're incredibly valuable slave labor.

[-] grue@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago

Well yeah, because if we let them out we can't exploit them as slave labor anymore.

[-] joyjoy@lemm.ee 22 points 4 months ago

I'm not a criminal now, but I might be one day. Then people like me better watch out!

[-] hglman@lemmy.ml 6 points 4 months ago

The link is not formatted correctly

[-] AdamEatsAss@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

You're not formatted correctly...it looks correct on my end. This is how I do it [Text] (link)

[-] gobills@lemm.ee 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Yo no one is listening to you, I even looked at your comment and was like na thats a broke link. Then i realized its not the link to the article thats wrong its that you copied another link from the page when you posted the article snippet. I think for some it is only showing your comment i text format not as the link->text format.

TLDR: OP aint crazy yall are the crazy ones lol

[-] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Your link is all fucked up

Edit: downvoting me does not unfuck your link

[-] AdamEatsAss@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Looks correct to me. How do you format links? I do it the reddit way. "[Text] (link)"

[-] paysrenttobirds@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 months ago

The link contains parentheses. It looks and works fine in jerboa:) I guess other clients aren't as tolerant

[-] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world -2 points 4 months ago

This isn't reddit

[-] AdamEatsAss@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

...again it looks right on my end. I am using jerboa. How should I be formatting links if not like that?

[-] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

Maybe Sync and possibly other clients interpret the markdown differently. You might check your URL for improperly escaped characters.

[-] Tremble@sh.itjust.works 36 points 4 months ago

If you can not afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. But you will be charged later for the attorney…… which we know you can’t afford?

[-] theworstshepard@lemmynsfw.com 24 points 4 months ago

That makes no sense.

It would be like a bank charging you for a letter that says you're out of money

[-] joyjoy@lemm.ee 24 points 4 months ago

There's a thing called overcharge fees...

[-] theworstshepard@lemmynsfw.com 5 points 4 months ago

<thatsthejoke.jpg>

[-] Fosheze@lemmy.world 11 points 4 months ago

You mean overdraft fees?

[-] joyjoy@lemm.ee 8 points 4 months ago

If you choose to represent yourself, do they charge you court fees to pay the judge and prosecutor?

[-] GladiusB@lemmy.world 8 points 4 months ago

Actually yes. You need to pay to file paperwork.

[-] jpreston2005@lemmy.world 31 points 4 months ago

So whether you can afford it or not, whether you are guilty or not, whether you did anything wrong or not, you're still gonna have to pay. why? Well, it's not like we can hire/train professionals to deal with the enforcement arm of these terrible policies. best we can do is 3 months of on the job training. But don't worry, if they mess everything up, you'll always have your day in court! Which you'll be charged for!

So the real moral of the American justice story is, you only get it if you're wealthy enough, but also if you're wealthy enough you're never beholden to it.

[-] SoylentBlake@lemm.ee 4 points 4 months ago

If you're gonna be fucked either way, might as well go big.

At least there's a chance you might go home then

[-] Telorand@reddthat.com 27 points 4 months ago

Debtors Prison never went away, it just reorganized upstream.

[-] SoylentBlake@lemm.ee 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

That's because prisons are just institutionalized state sponsored slavery that sells it's 'goods' to private companies.

Refusing to work in prison will net you more time. Rinse repeatn= if you ever want to see your family again, you'll work.

[-] unreasonabro@lemmy.world 22 points 4 months ago

murica! fuck yeah. doing it wrong every motherfuckin day, yeah

[-] bartolomeo@suppo.fi 1 points 4 months ago

Was I supposed to sing that? Because I did.

[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 19 points 4 months ago

it also charges poor people for legal aid even if they are acquitted or the cases against them are dropped.

This is some real damned if you do, damned if you don't energy. You beat the prosecutor, but you'll never beat the court putting you in jail for not being able to pay them.

[-] Rediphile@lemmy.ca 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Not unlike turtles, it's lawyers all the way down....

[-] PopMyCop@iusearchlinux.fyi 15 points 4 months ago

I'll do you one better on TOP of this: the lowest level offenses, like traffic tickets, don't afford you the right to an attorney (somehow, eh? Also, catch my pun :P ). Maybe you think that's fine, because traffic tickets are different from theft charges and assault charges, etc. etc., but the catch is the lowest level of criminal offenses bundle in with those traffic tickets. If you catch a theft charge for the lowest amount, you don't get an attorney. If you catch a theft charge after the first, even if it's the same dollar store candy bar amount, now you are in a higher charge, with more jail time. The pattern repeats across other crimes as well. In fact, when I was paying attention, I'd say most of the 'crimes' that I saw people brought in for in my city were the low level offenses, and they were always the weasel crimes of cursing, making gestures... anything that could be used to put someone in jail for the night, and they would never get representation to fight the bullshit.

[-] pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online 3 points 4 months ago

This varies by state

this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2024

279 points (99.6% liked)

politics

18080 readers

2930 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect!
No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive.
Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

• Register To Vote

• Citizenship Resource Center

• Congressional Awards Program

• Federal Government Agencies

• Library of Congress Legislative Resources

• The White House

• U.S. House of Representatives

• U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

• News