The trial penalty impacts everyone.
Not just the accused. The Bill of Rights guarantees the right to a jury trial and other fundamental rights. In reality, more than 97% of criminal cases end in guilty pleas because our legal system routinely and systematically coerces individuals to plead guilty by threatening much more severe prison sentences if they choose to take their cases to trial instead.
Cases not going to trial effectively removes a critical check on our legal system: evidence goes unchallenged, law enforcement and government overreaches flourish, and while no one is immune to the trial penalty’s impact, it does affect people of color and the impoverished the most.
