Amy Bach is a lawyer with both analytical and writing skills. Equipped to earn impressive fees, she has chosen journalism instead. It takes an attorney to investigate state county courtrooms, and Bach’s research reads like a novel.

She begins with the fact that courtrooms are designed for combat. Television drama shows lawyers duking it out until truth emerges. That’s the way it’s meant to be. Ordinary Injustice is not about the “show trials” that grab our attention, or the federal cases that have reporters and watchdog groups monitoring activity. She targets the justice handed out in state courts, focusing on people who cannot afford a trial.

And that includes most of us. Lawyers, especially the better ones, are expensive and the adversarial process can take years. Either side can obtain numerous delays. Gathering evidence is labor-intensive work. As time passes and costs mount, the issue of justice is revisited. Few can pursue the outcome they believe in. Hence the coerced plea bargains.

States have the political will to fund a state prosecutor, because citizens want to live in a safe, orderly place. “By contrast, counsel for poor people accused of crimes is a burden the U.S. Supreme Court thrust on the states in the sixties. Thus with a more popular mandate, prosecutors tend to receive more money and resources.”

The underpaid, overworked public defenders are expected to perform a mission impossible. The caseload is beyond contemplation. Hence defendants are shuffled through procedural steps (with crucial ones frequently skipped) moving people through a system that has never worked. The adversarial model does not exist for the vast majority who are arrested.

Meanwhile, prosecutors have discretion on whether or not to pursue a case. Some make decisions with politics in mind. Others may choose cases they are sure to win. Assaults, robbery, rape, even murder can leave the injured without protection when prosecutors ignore their plight. They live in a lawless underworld, with nowhere to turn: Especially women. When beaten, hospitalized, or permanently injured, a case can be called “a domestic situation” and ignored.

Judges, even fair-minded ones, can be bullies, tyrants in their fiefdoms. Consider one admired judge who imposed absurd bail amounts, like the $25,000 set for a defendant who rode his bicycle without a bell. Before charges were dropped, a man was sent to prison. No one told him he could leave and thus he languished there for months. You get the picture. Bribery or intentional corruption is not the problem here. At issue is the unconscious collusion of weary officials who value efficiency and ease over constitutional protections.

Ordinary Injustice reveals the sorry condition of certain state county courtrooms. Amy Bach is a hero to the faceless numbers who have stood before them, alone, convicted, without the guaranteed benefit of a zealous defense.

jimandy111@cox.net