Equal Justice Under Law

The promise of equal justice is carved in stone--the stone facade of our nation's Supreme Court. But a recent bipartisan report by the Constitution Project paints a picture of a promise broken for the countless poor who find themselves in the craw of our flawed criminal justice system.

NPR reports that former judge Tim Lewis, one of the report's authors and co-chair of the Constitution Project's National Right to Counsel Committee said of the report, "it doesn't paint a pretty picture." The NPR report goes on to quote Lewis, "You should not have a better shot at justice, a better opportunity for an adequate defense, depending upon who arrests you in this country or where you were when you were arrested or what court system a defendant winds up in. This is a basic constitutional right."

The report notes that "Alan Crotzer, a man who spent 24 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. 'I was poor and indigent,' said Crotzer. 'I didn't have no political connections, but I was innocent. And because of that fault in me, I spent more than half of my life in prison.'"

Listen to the audio of the NPR report.