Law In Majesty Lv

December 2008December 2008

SOCIAL CLASS & THE LAWSOCIAL CLASS & THE LAW

It’s the same the whole world over……It’s the same the whole world over……

“It’s the same the whole world over

It’s the poor wot gets the blame

It’s the rich wot gets the pleasure

Ain’t it all a bleedin’ shame”

English music hall song from WW1 to be sung in a Cockney accent.

““The law is an ass”The law is an ass”

From “Oliver Twist” by Charles Dickens:

Mr. Bumble is informed that "the law supposes that your wife acts under your direction". Mr. Bumble replies "If the law supposes that… the law is an ass—an idiot. If that’s the eye of the law, the law is a bachelor; and the worst I wish the law is that his eye may be opened by experience—by experience."

“The Law, in all its majesty, forbids both rich and poor from sleeping under the bridges of Paris.”

French writer, Anatole France, 1893

• compare squeegee kids, panhandlers in Toronto

CLASS and the LAW

BANKSBANKS

• “It is easier to rob by setting up a bank than by holding up a bank.” Bertold Brecht, German playright.

Whose fault? Who profits?Whose fault? Who profits?

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States

The best justice money can buy?The best justice money can buy?

white collar cartoonswhite collar cartoons

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/mba/lowres/mban1529l.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/w/white_collar_criminal.asp&usg=__skEsnDf1aU_Gco528WttNAhc9XE=&h=400&w=347&sz=30&hl=en&start=14&sig2=GDF4zDGDwa7-ReC0jKqX_w&tbnid=7C4h6edy_OjXXM:&tbnh=124&tbnw=108&ei=WehKSeiEI6X8NO7ihMMP&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522white%2Bcollar%2Bcrime%2522%26as_st%3Dy%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

SOC SOCIAL CLASS AND THE SOC SOCIAL CLASS AND THE DEATH PENALTYDEATH PENALTY

– CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING:• 20% OF PEOPLE FACING EXECUTION IN

WASHINGTON STATE DURING THE PAST 20 YEARS WERE REPRESENTED BY ATTORNEYS WHO HAD BEEN, OR WERE LATER, DISBARRED, SUSPENDED, OR ARRESTED (THE OVERALL LEVEL OF DISBARMENT IN THE STATE IS < 1%) – SEATTLE POST-INTELLINGENCER, AUG. 6-8, 2001

• IN ALABAMA, ABOUT 40 DEATH ROW INMATES, SOME WITHIN FIVE MONTHS OF FILING DEADLINES FOR STATE APPEALS, DO NOT HAVE COUNSEL – NEW YORK TIMES, JULY 5, 2001

SOCIAL CLASS AND LAWSOCIAL CLASS AND LAWAfter 20 years on (the) high

court, I have to acknowledge that serious questions are being raised about whether the death

penalty is being fairly administered in this country. Perhaps it’s time to look at

minimum standards for appointed counsel in death

cases and adequate compensation for appointed counsel when they are used.

-- Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (2001)

SOCIAL CLASS AND LAWSOCIAL CLASS AND LAW

People who are well represented at trial do not get the death penalty. . . . I have yet to

see a death case among the dozens coming to the Supreme Court on eve-of-execution stay applications in which the defendant was well represented at trial.

-- Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (2001)

SOCIAL CLASS AND LAWSOCIAL CLASS AND LAW

• EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE SHOWS THE QUALITY OF REPRESENTATION IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PREDICTOR OF WHETHER A DEFENDANT IN A CAPITAL CASE IS SENTENCED TO DEATH

• QUALITY IS USUALLY A FUNCTION OF ONE’S ABILITY TO PAY

HOWEVER:•ALMOST NO CAPITAL CASE DEFENDANTS CAN AFFORD THEIR OWN ATTORNEYS

•APPOINTED ATTORNEYS ARE OVERWORKED, UNDERPAID, LACK EXPERIENCE, OR ALL THREE

– DOCUMENTED INSTANCES WHERE ATTORNEYS REPRESENTING INDIGENT DEFENDANTS IN CAPITAL CASES HAVE BEEN COMPLETELY UNPREPARED FOR THE SENTENCING PHASE OF THE TRIAL; SLEPT THROUGH PARTS OF THE TRIAL; ARRIVED IN COURT UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF DRUGS OR ALCOHOL

• “THE BEST JUSTICE MONEY CAN BUY”