Does money or the lack of money influence how the law treats you?

[Quamie]

Enron, Martha S. and the rmiddle class or poor man or woman that steals from their compan. Does the law as well as society treat them the same when it comes to trails and punishment?

[kingclick]

The law treats me as a speeder. And my financial status hasn't effected me either way.

[Madelyn2]

The law, in and of itself, is blind to status.

People, however, are not.

In criminal cases:

Lawyers cost money. A good lawyer costs lots of money. So poor people end up with a government appointed counsel working for next to nothing. A lawyer like this is usually overwhelmed with cases, making money off volume. So he/she has little time to spend with a client. No staff to do research. No money to hire experts, investigators. No time to pour over the evidence, to carefully plan a defense. So, this means that the client is less likely to get an adequate representation. The jails are filled with people like this.

No justice there.

But Martha and Kobe hire the best attorneys money can buy. They can spend thousands and thousands on investigators, experts, etc. Their attorneys have staff galor. And Kobe and Martha can foot the bill for hours and hours of billing hours for preparation, reseach, hearings, whatever. The sky is the limit. And attorneys know this so they work their tails off. The more they work, the more money they make. And if rich person gets off, fame, and more fortune.

A poor person or even an average'd income person cannot do this.

So, given the same facts, same laws, the more money you have the more likely you are to be acquitted.

In civil cases:

Rich people, rich corporations like insurance companies can afford to pursue cases, to pound on people until they cave and give up, or give in.

Some poor people can get great attorneys by way of contigency fees. And that balances out the disparity of power and wealth. But even attorneys have a hard time competing against the wealth and clout of major corporations.

[rara avisnongrata]

In theory, no. In practice, yes...for all the reasons Madelyn2 already mentioned :D .