The justice system is based partially on the amount of money you have, that is what it depends on. Do you make a lot of money? Then sure, you can afford a great lawyer, but if you are poor, or even middle class, lawyers are incredibly difficult to afford. If you are wealthy with power, you could get away with crimes, along with many other things. This causes distrust and corruption within the judicial system. Therefore the issue is nearly impossible to be fixed due to the harmful and unfair adjudication. There are many instances where not only people are wrongly convicted and sentenced to prison for years upon years, but our society has extremely wealthy people who can get a mere probation sentence after committing horrendous crimes.

Thomas Raynard James walked out of prison a free and exonerated man after spending the last three decades in prison. Convicted in 1990 based on one eyewitness who said she saw him and would never forget his face. But recently, she has since questioned her testimony and said she, in fact, doubts that it was really him. In an article published on GQ, Tristram Korten indicates, “A public defender James had never met entered a not-guilty plea, and officers whisked James downstairs… and booked him for murder.” One might try to refute and say that technology was not as adept in the 90s, but this is incorrect. Eyewitness testimony has always been the least reliable evidence, and we have known this fact. This gut wrenching case of Thomas James, the mistaken identity, only furthers the narrative that there could have been a better chance for him if he had a better lawyer, one who could easily cross-check and see that this man was not the killer, but it was another Thomas. Thus it is unmistakable that there was a lack of effort and tunnel vision on the justice systems’ end.

The infamous Jefferey Epstein, need I say more? Child trafficker, rapist, abuser, and the evil man had, in my opinion, the most jokingly, reckless sentences of them all. In 2008, Epstein was facing a thirteen-month sentence for two prostitution charges, but at this time, his child sex-trafficking ring was still running large. Epstein was able to leave the jail freely for twelve hours a day, six days a week. Noting that it was proved that he abused at least one woman during this absurd consequence. Chloe Foussianes, associated with Country magazine writes, “And I genuinely think that everybody has a price... People got bought off, and we don't know fully what those behind the scenes conversations were. But there's also the aspect of the white privilege and male culture.” With the amount of money Epstein made, it is clear to say he had an exorbitant upper hand. Power, money, friends-- it was nothing but a joke to him, and he was able to hold the Justice system in the center of his palm due to the corruption in the departments and the power he held.

It is hard to come up with a solution for corruption because it is already everywhere we turn. But the people must continue to hold the bad accountable and the innocent free. I believe that it is obvious we need to give the lower class better defense attorneys and allow them to have a fair chance, as it says in the Constitution. It is incredibly sad to see the unfairness and distrust we see against law enforcement and the justice system, and that is because minorities- or not, with less money than the rich, white, and the powerful will always have a disproportionate chance.

Works Cited

Foussianes, Chloe. “How Jeffrey Epstein Got Away With It for So Long.” Town & Country Magazine, 1 October 2019, townandcountrymag.com/society/money-and-power/a29307927/jeffrey-epstein-mysterious-mr-podcast-wondery/. Accessed 28 April 2022.

Korten, Tristram. “Is This Man Serving a Life Sentence Because of a Mistaken Identity?” GQ, 28 July 2021, gq.com/story/thomas-james-tragic-murder-case. Accessed 28 April 2022.