Michigan Finally Eyeing Changes To Lawyers For Poor

[Brewman_Jax]

http://www.npr.org/2012/06/14/154849477/...s-for-poor

From the article:

Quote:...
On a sticky afternoon along Detroit's riverfront plaza, children jump through chutes of water in a fountain. Nearby, Edward Carter sits on a park bench and talks about his life behind bars.

"I was 19 years old when I went in, and I got out on my 55th birthday," Carter says.

This scenic area isn't far from where a pregnant woman was assaulted in a university bathroom on Oct. 24, 1974. Carter was convicted of that crime, after a trial that lasted only two days. He said he didn't do it.

Thirty-five years later, he finally convinced authorities — with the help of fingerprint evidence and a report that said Carter was already in custody on theft charges when the attack took place.

...

The tragedy and the racist nature of the criminal injustice system and the prison-industrial complex. Anyone that says that criminals get a break has learned about the system from sensationalized newscast sound bites that do not tell the whole truth. A man lost nearly 40 years of his life that can't be returned because of an unfunded system and uncaring society. Since the majority that suffer are POC, there was no impetus to fix a broken system. Hopefully some lawsuits will get this some badly-needed attention.