Do the rich / affluent get a break in the legal system?

[Lucky... 0]

That's the question, do the rich get an easier time in civil or criminal court?

[warpedskydiver 0]

Define rich....

[Lucky... 0]

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Define rich....

How long is a stick? Come on, if someone has influence, popularity, statuis, etc....not looking for anything indepth.

[warpedskydiver 0]

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Define rich....

How long is a stick?

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It is shorter than a tree.

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[FreeflyChile 0]

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That's the question, do the rich get an easier time in civil or criminal court?

Yes - they can afford better lawyers.

[Lindsey 0]

I think they do fare better in the legal system, but not because they get a break, but because they have better legal representation. If you're getting free services, they're probably not gonna be the best that money can buy....

linz

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A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

[klingeme 1]

Can you say OJ?

[Darius11 12]

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Do the rich / affluent get a break in the legal system?

Not just in the legal system but everywhere. I have no issue with the everywhere part, but the only place where money and who you are should not matter is in the eyes of the law.

Off course that’s not the case anywhere.

I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not." - Kurt Cobain

[Butters 0]

Depends on the crime. When it comes to narcotics, the rich go to rehab while the poor go to prison ...

"That looks dangerous." Leopold Stotch

[pirana 0]

Not exactly a break; but they do fare better (if better means getting less punishment, or none at all).

Quite simply, more money means you get to hire better talent. Do you think the local public defender would have gotten OJ off?

Doing well in the legal system means being a good story teller and getting the judge and/or jury to believe your story instead of the other guy's story. If you can afford to hire the best story tellers, the very best at convincing people your story is more plausible/true/likely, then you have a much better chance of winning.

" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

[Butters 0]

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Doing well in the legal system means being a good story teller and getting the judge and/or jury to believe your story instead of the other guy's story. If you can afford to hire the best story tellers, the very best at convincing people your story is more plausible/true/likely, then you have a much better chance of winning.

Make sure you hire someone that know the Chewbacca defense.

"That looks dangerous." Leopold Stotch

[FreeflyChile 0]

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That's the question, do the rich get an easier time in civil or criminal court?

Of course, in civil court - if you're poor you may not get sued where a rich guy would since they can't collect.

[lawrocket 3]

Depends on the circumstance. IN some cases, yes. In others, no. Some of the rich/affluent will have the book thrown at them BECAUSE they are rich and affluent. Meanwhile, many of the poor will not.

On the other hand, many of the rich can hire great talent to assist with their cases, whereas the poor cannot. (aside - if I were ever charged with something, my first appointment would be with a public defender. These folks are in the same courtrooms every day and can give better options and opinions on things than a private practitioner most of the time).

In civil court, the rich have a harder time because they are "deep pockets." A poor guy? He won't even get sued because he is "judgment proof."

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[AWL71 0]

Of course. With money normally comes connections. It's not what you know but who you know.

The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

[vortexring 0]

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Define rich....

How long is a stick? Come on, if someone has influence, popularity, statuis, etc....not looking for anything indepth.

The distance from the middle to the end multiplied by 2. Jeez....

'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.'

[SivaGanesha 2]

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That's the question, do the rich get an easier time in civil or criminal court?

Having lived in Canada and the US, I would say that, in general, the US is much friendlier to the rich and Canada is much friendlier to the poor.

However the civil court system is the exception. Here in the USA the poor get breaks that aren't allowed in Canada making it very easy (relative to Canada) for the poor to sue deep pockets rich people. For example in Canada contingency-based legal fees aren't allowed so it is very hard for the poor to persuade a lawyer to take on their case. In the USA it is easy (relatively speaking) to get a lawyer to take a case on contingency if there is a reasonable probability of winning. Even if the poor plaintiff has a weak case, a rich defendant will often settle for a healthy sum rather than endure the time, cost, and embarrassment of going to trial.

Plus in Canada the loser in a civil court case often has to pay the winner's legal expenses--this can make it harder for poorer people to sue. In the USA both sides pay their own legal expenses unless they have a contract specifically stipulating otherwise.

When it comes to criminal courts I don't think the rich have any advantage once they are actually on trial, but there are any number of ways they can use their influence to avoid even being charged for all but the most serious crimes with the most solid evidence.

"It's hard to have fun at 4-way unless your whole team gets down to the ground safely to do it again!"--Northern California Skydiving League re USPA Safety Day, March 8, 2014

[Andy9o8 2]

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Do you think the local public defender would have gotten OJ off?

Most people are as clueless about public defenders as whuffos are about skydiving. I've known many of the very cream of the crop of criminal defense lawyers throughout the US over the past 30 years. A very large number of them are or have been public defenders.

When a high-priced private criminal attorney, who has only been in the private sector (or maybe a DA) needs some top-notch expert advice on how to handle a really tough case, as often as not that expert will be a public defender.

[tbrown 26]

Do the names Paris Hilton, Phil Spector, and Michael Jackson mean anything to you ?

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[Lucky... 0]

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Do the names Paris Hilton, Phil Spector, and Michael Jackson mean anything to you ?

Yes, slut, murderer, and freakin pedo...... in that order.

[377 22]

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That's the question, do the rich get an easier time in civil or criminal court?

I used to do criminal defense law. In my experience, the rich often got disproportionate breaks on sentencing. Of course you don't complain that the PO and judge are giving your wealthy client a slap on the wrist for the same offense that your indigent clients have been roasted for. The federal sentencing guidelines help eliminate this disparity, but they are often barbaric and result in long federal sentences for pot offenses that would have gotten much lesser sentences in state court.

Very few ghetto youth make it through law school and are appointed to the bench. Most judges are white, reasonably affluent and see those kids as "them" and affluent educated defendants as "us." It is human nature to favor "us" over "them." As John Mellencamp sang: "that's just the way it is. Some things will never change."

2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

[377 22]

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Not exactly a break; but they do fare better (if better means getting less punishment, or none at all).

Quite simply, more money means you get to hire better talent. Do you think the local public defender would have gotten OJ off?

I did a two year internship in a county public defenders office and my kid brother, who graduated from Harvard Law School with honors, served as both a county PD and later a federal PD. PDs are often EXCELLENT trial lawyers. They try more jury cases in a year than a lot of private lawyers try in a decade or even a lifetime. I used to just grimace when I'd see poor families mortgage their homes to retain private counsel for a relative when the PD appointed to represent them free was ten times better.

We used to have PD T Shirts that read: "reasonable doubt at a reasonable price."

Look at some of the hotshots who used to be public defenders and you will see that major talent passes through those offices. The PDs I worked with were sharp dedicated lawyers and definitely not from the bottom of the legal barrel.

2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

[Andy9o8 2]

What you said - all of it.

[Lindsey 0]

Do you think that all of these poor people, people with serious mental illness, minorities are all in prison because they really are guilty more often than the more affluent folks? Or is it because people do get a break because of their social standing? Or what?

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A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

[Lucky... 0]

Thx for the answers everyone, I learned a few new perspectives. I didn't want to bias the poll, so I didn't state why I started this poll and that's because another poster claimed that all people get the same treatment in court, regardless of their wealth or other status.

Of course this is false and I wanted to let a little time go by and see the results. 86% say yes, can some no's explain why they think wealth/status doesn't change your received due process?

[Lucky... 0]

>>>>>>>>>>>>>We used to have PD T Shirts that read: "reasonable doubt at a reasonable price."


Awesome, I never have seen this.