• About
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Search
Future Hindsight is a weekly podcast that aims to spark civic engagement through in-depth conversations with citizen changemakers. American democracy is a living, breathing mechanism whose well-being deserves to be cultivated and protected, and now more than ever, the need to be an engaged citizen is critical. We explore how each of us has the power to shape our society and fulfill our shared civic responsibility.

Top Episodes:

  • Beto O’Rourke
  • Ian Bremmer
  • Stephen Pimpare
  • James Doty
  • Ted Dintersmith

Subscribe On:

Stephen Bright

February 22, 2019

"All the people on death row are poor."

Stephen Bright served as the director of the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, and is currently a lecturer at Yale Law School, as well as professor of practice at Georgia State College of Law. We discuss the death penalty in the United States and its relationship to poverty, race, and disadvantage.

Poverty and competent representation

The Supreme Court only decided in 1932 that a person in a death penalty case had a right to a lawyer. However, the government has competing interests when it must provide legal representation to a person whom it is trying to execute or imprison. Many court-appointed lawyers are not competent to represent someone accused in a capital case. Examples range from being inexperienced to try such cases, falling asleep during trials, or showing up drunk. Consequently, the people on death row are largely the most vulnerable in our society: extremely poor, victims of racism, suffering from mental illness, or limited intellectual capabilities. 

Race and location

Justice Douglas pointed out that the defendant’s race was a key determinant in who received the death penalty. The criminal justice system is the part of our society least affected by the civil rights movement; the judge, the prosecutors, the court-appointed lawyers, and the juries are often all white. In addition to race, location plays a huge role. Eighty percent of all the death sentences come from the South. Some prosecutors are more zealous than others in seeking the death penalty. A crime that is committed in one county might result in capital punishment, but not if it happened in a neighboring one.

A fair and impartial court system

Competent legal representation is the foundation for justice in the courts because it provides protection against an innocent person being convicted. A competent lawyer investigates a case thoroughly, ensures that there really is a charge against the client, gets to know the client and his or her life story, and presents all of the relevant evidence. Further, although there is little diversity among judges, prosecutors, and lawyers, a least the juries should represent the diversity of the community.

Find out more:

Stephen Bright is a lawyer, lecturer at Yale Law School, and professor of practice at Georgia State College of Law. He is a passionate advocate of a public defender system, and has also served as director, president, and senior counsel of the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta.

Categories

Advocacy, Civic Engagement, Civil Rights, Community Activism, Criminal Justice, Equality, Human Rights, Interview, Juvenile Justice, Poverty

Tags:

Capital Case, Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice System, Death Penalty, Death Row, Defender, Discrimination, Judge, Jury, Justice Reform, Law, lawyer, Poverty, Prosecutor, Public Defense, Race, Representation
© 2019 Future Hindsight

Join Our Community

Discover Inspiring Citizen Changemakers
It’s free, simple and secure.