The concept of “innocent until proven guilty” is a fundamental part of the United State’s justice system. Not only does it promise that all individuals are presumed innocent until concrete evidence proves otherwise, but it guarantees that the accused will undergo a fair and just trial to seek the truth. However, when put to the test, this assurance has been repeatedly found lacking – particularly around our nation’s underpaid and overworked public defenders. These lawyers are employed by state governments to defend those who are unable to afford an attorney, yet they often receive grossly inadequate pay, a lack of crucial resources and minimal training for the number of grueling cases they endure year after year. This unjust system is a direct contradiction to our nation’s beliefs and values, and its impacts ripple far beyond the courtroom; into prisons, into our daily lives and into our dissolving trust in this broken system.
Failures by defense counsel have led to thousands of cases across the country in which people are wrongfully convicted and subsequently sent to prison for a crime they did not commit. The amount of cases that public defenders undergo in a single year – in a single day – is far too high for even the most devoted and skilled lawyers to reasonably complete. The American Bar Association states that an attorney is expected to manage 150 felony or 400 misdemeanor cases in one year, yet many defenders surpass this by a large margin, with some even handling 300 to 500 cases annually. In one day, they could be expected to deal with up to ten cases.“Having too many cases and not enough time can hurt the people they’re trying to help,” freshman Sofia Blanken said. Regardless of their overwhelming caseload, the average salary for state-level public defenders ranges from $65,000 to $85,000. Given the increasing cost of living and surging inflation, this salary may be insufficient to support a comfortable lifestyle, especially for those with family responsibilities.
It comes as no surprise, then, that they cannot dedicate their full attention, effort, or performance to represent each client effectively, when they simply desire to move on from each case as fast as possible in order to make more money. “I think the quality of defense really depends on the lawyer individually,” freshman Maria Silva said. “How much they handle a case and how much effort goes into it is decided by each lawyer, so I think it would be wrong to assume all public defense attorneys provide a poor defense.” However, as a result of their limited time spent on each case, attorneys are unable to conduct thorough investigations, communicate with their clients, or utilize expert witnesses. Because of their ingrained habit of treating their clients as numbers rather than people, critical evidence can easily be missed, condemning thousands of people to a fate they did not deserve. It is the system itself that inherently harms both the lawyers and the clients, who disproportionately tend to be poor, people of color, or other marginalized groups. “It starts with the parent. And then it leads to effects in later generations, because of trends like this happening,” RMS and IB Biology teacher Bessy Albaugh said.“So I think that people like public defenders need to have more money to be able to do their jobs correctly.”
When the difference between guilt and innocence depends on one’s bank account, it undermines the very principles of our justice system: fairness and equality above all else. Due to an absence of resources, insufficient pay, and marginal training, public defenders lack both the motivation and incentive to fully advocate for their clients when they are unable to do so for themselves. “…even though the system is supposed to be fair, it doesn’t always work out that way,” Blanken said.
Systematic reform is crucial to bring change, including increased funding, reducing the number of required cases to a truly manageable amount and widening access to expert resources. It means recognizing that public defenders are just as important as prosecutors or lawyers in private firms, and they deserve better. Until then, the principle “innocent until proven guilty” is effectively reversed, and clients will instead be branded from the very beginning as “guilty until proven innocent.”
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