Justice on a Price Tag

They say you are innocent until proven guilty. In America, you are guilty until you have the money to prove otherwise. When I was ten years old, I watched Legally Blonde for the first time, and I was completely hooked. It was not the pink heels or the tiny dog that captured me, but the courtroom itself. As silly as it sounds, that was the moment I knew I wanted to be a defense attorney. I believed the justice system was where truth won, where the innocent were protected, and where a passionate lawyer could change someone’s life. But as I got older and began learning more about our system, that shiny image began to crack. I saw people who never got the chance to tell their story. I saw people punished not because they were guilty, but because they were poor. That was when I realized something that changed everything. In this country, justice does not come with a gavel. It comes with a price tag. And if you cannot afford it, you do not get it.

Under the Constitution, the criminal justice system is supposed to protect the innocent, ensure fair trials, and hold the guilty accountable. The Sixth Amendment promises that “the accused shall enjoy the right to have the Assistance of Counsel.” But what happens when that lawyer is juggling hundreds of cases at once? What happens when they meet you five minutes before court or barely know your name? That constitutional right becomes an empty promise. Those are the lawyers assigned to people without financial resources, not because they are unskilled, but because they are overworked and underfunded. Although our Constitution guarantees equal justice, the reality is that the United States criminal justice system is fundamentally unequal because people without money are routinely denied effective legal representation.

Kalief Browder’s story shows exactly what that inequality looks like. In 2010, Kalief, a sixteen-year-old from the Bronx, was arrested for allegedly stealing a backpack. Bail was set at three thousand dollars, money his family did not have. Kalief was sent to Rikers Island, one of the most violent jails in the country, where he spent more than three years waiting for a trial that never happened. Nearly eight hundred of those days were spent in solitary confinement. His lawyer had almost no time or resources to defend him, and his family had no way to pay for better representation. Kalief refused to plead guilty because he was innocent, but innocence was not enough when the system gave him nothing to fight with.

A 2025 report by the Center for Justice Innovation revealed that forty-two states still charge public defender fees, and twelve percent of public defense attorneys surveyed said they had seen clients waive their right to counsel because they could not afford those fees. This means that even when someone technically qualifies for a “free lawyer,” the system still asks them to pay for the help they are guaranteed under the Constitution. For poor defendants, every step of the process becomes another barrier to receiving real representation. When a basic constitutional right is treated like a bill, people do what Kalief Browder’s family had to do. They make impossible choices. They face the system alone, without proper legal support, and without the resources needed to challenge wrongful accusations. Kalief’s story makes this reality painfully clear. His family could not afford bail or a well-resourced attorney, and that lack of resources helped trap him on Rikers Island for years.

This is exactly where the divide between the wealthy and the poor becomes impossible to ignore. A clear example is the 2021 federal trial of Elizabeth Holmes, who was accused of orchestrating a massive fraud scheme involving hundreds of millions of dollars. Holmes remained free on bail for years, arrived in court surrounded by a premier legal team, and navigated a smooth, well-supported legal process. Her resources gave her time, strategy, expertise, and freedom. By contrast, poor defendants do not get any of that. Holmes’ case reveals an uncomfortable truth. The difference between being detained for years and walking into court on your own terms is not about guilt. It is about money.

Some people argue that public defenders still provide effective representation. They point out that public defenders are licensed attorneys trained to uphold the Constitution, and many of them are deeply dedicated. A 2022 report by the California Legislative Analyst’s Office stated that public defenders are generally capable of providing effective representation. However, the issue is not capability, but rather capacity. Even the most committed attorney cannot give each client the attention they deserve when they are responsible for hundreds of cases at once. The West Virginia Innocence Project reported in 2020 that in some jurisdictions, public defenders were able to dedicate only minutes to each case, making meaningful defense almost impossible. When a lawyer has only minutes to defend a life, justice becomes luck, not law.

Kalief Browder’s case is not an anomaly. It is part of a pattern that continues today. In 2022, the University of Chicago’s Federal Criminal Justice Clinic released Freedom Denied: How the Culture of Detention Created a Federal Jailing Crisis, and found that federal judges routinely violate the very bail laws they are required to uphold. These violations drive up detention rates, jail people for poverty, and worsen racial disparities across the system. Courtwatching data and first-hand accounts from judges and attorneys reveal that a culture of detention dominates federal courtrooms. Instead of following the written law, many judges rely on courthouse custom, eroding the presumption of innocence and punishing those who lack the financial resources to protect themselves. This culture mirrors the same failures that trapped Kalief Browder. A justice system that ignores legal safeguards and jails people simply because they cannot pay is a system designed to reproduce injustice.

Works Cited

Gonnerman, Jennifer. “Before the Law.” The New Yorker, 29 Sept. 2014,

www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/06/before-the-law.

“A Constitutional Right, but Public Defense Comes with a Fee - Center for Justice Innovation.” Center for Justice Innovation, 24 Feb. 2025, www.innovatingjustice.org/updates/public-defender-fees/.

U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of California. “Elizabeth Holmes Sentenced to More than 11 Years for Defrauding Theranos Investors of Hundreds of Millions | United States Department of Justice.” Www.justice.gov, 18 Nov. 2022, www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/elizabeth-holmes-sentenced-more-11-years-defrauding-theranos-investors-hundreds.

“Assessing the Provision of Criminal Indigent Defense.” Lao.ca.gov,

lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4623.

“The US Public Defender Crisis | WV Innocence Project | West Virginia University.”

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wvinnocenceproject.law.wvu.edu/innocence-project-blog/our-voices/2019/06/27/the-us-public-defender-crisis.

“Freedom Denied.” Uchicago.edu, 2025, freedomdenied.law.uchicago.edu/report. Accessed 19 Nov. 2025.