Donald Trump has claimed that the election system is rigged because he didn’t win the last election. Now, after being convicted on 34 felony counts, he claims that the judicial system is rigged as well.
In regard to the judicial system, I must agree. I remember when the Central Park Five were charged and jailed; we saw how racism and the judicial system failed these young men. Trump, on the other hand, took out a full-page ad in the New York Times demanding that they be executed. Years later, even after these men were exonerated, Trump still called for them to be jailed and executed.
People of color and immigrants are denied fair trials within the judicial system every day. Public defenders and immigration attorneys lack the funds for investigations, expert witnesses and access to the media to argue their cases to the public.
Since 1973, 197 individuals on death row have been exonerated; since 1980, 850 individuals have been found innocent and released. The Innocence Project claims that many more could be released, but there is not enough staff to conduct the necessary research and provide representation.
Additionally, there is a disparity in sentencing, and court and victim fees are much higher for people of color than for the average white defendant. The judicial system is rigged against people of color and the poor. We have yet to see a rich man on death row.
Donald Trump, a billionaire or perhaps only a millionaire, has the funds to pay for not just one attorney but a battery of attorneys, investigators, and researchers. In his last trial, however, his attorneys did not seem prepared. Trump also had high-level political acolytes attending the trial and then advocating for him in the national media. Now that Trump has been convicted of 34 felonies, he will have the funds to appeal his conviction for years to come.
Poor people, in most cases, do not have adequate legal representation or the resources to pursue further appeals. Public defenders and immigration attorneys have enormous caseloads and not enough hours to handle them effectively.
In criminal cases, people of color are often pushed to plead guilty to charges, even when they are innocent. When Trump loses at the polls or in the courts, he calls the process rigged. I must stress that the judicial system is indeed rigged. It is rigged in favor of the rich and against defendants who are of color or poor.
