After a New York jury convicted Donald Trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, the former president continued to denounce his own actions. It has long been argued He says his target is a “rigged” justice system.
He may be right that the system is rigged, but in reality it is rigged in favor of wealthy people like him.
The jury found that Trump spent $130,000 in a “catch-and-kill” scheme to cover up embarrassing reports of extramarital affairs, including an alleged affair with a porn star, during his 2016 campaign, and then falsified business records to hide the payments.
Trump Claim No decent prosecutor would have prosecuted him, even if what he did was technically illegal. In one sense, he’s right: Prosecutors rarely hold the wealthy accountable, even for serious financial crimes, but they often prosecute poor people for minor offenses.
In fact, prosecutions of white-collar crimes are at their lowest level since tracking began under the Reagan administration. 4,180 indictments The national average for federal white-collar crime is A burden on the country Five times as many cases of theft of property. In the same year, there were more than ten times as many prosecutions (49,931 to be exactHe was charged with theft in Manhattan alone.
Trump was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records, a minor, nonviolent felony. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 18 months to four years in prison, but a judge is unlikely to sentence him to anything other than probation.
Meanwhile, in New York City, Petty crime For example, selling a counterfeit Coach bag without a license could land you two years in prison. Jumping a subway turnstile could land you in jail. Up to 1 year.
Furthermore, if you commit a “fraudulent act” and then receive “welfare benefits,” you may be charged with welfare fraud. Petty crimeIf the value of the public benefits you receive exceeds $1,000, Class E Felony Same kind Trump was convictedThe problem becomes more serious if the value of the public benefits you receive exceeds $3,000. Class D Felony.
So in New York, accepting $3,000 in fraudulent welfare payments is a more serious crime than falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 payment to win an election.
The rich/poor dichotomy in criminal court becomes even starker when you consider how much Trump has spent on his own defense: $76.7 million over the past two years. Trump sat in the courtroom, flanked by lawyers focused solely on his case.
Meanwhile, in the Manhattan courtroom where I worked for many years as a public defender, my former overworked and underpaid colleagues were defending the vast majority of people accused of crimes.
While Trump has raised millions of dollars for his own legal defense, most Americans charged with crimes must rely on public defenders. The public defender he passed in the hallway on his way to his sentencing had a starting salary of $1,000. Just over $74,000The amount of money President Trump has spent on legal fees over the past two years could cover the starting salaries of more than 1,000 public defenders representing more than 100,000 people.
The idea that Trump was somehow denied due process is ludicrous, given what due process means to people who cannot afford a lawyer: They are assigned one lawyer to their case, but that lawyer also represents 100 other clients and earns a salary barely enough to cover living expenses.
Trump received all the due process that money can buy and yet the jury still found him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, which shows how strong the evidence against him was.
Trump conflates the privileges of the wealthy with immunity from prosecution. It’s not surprising why. Trump He has been sued over 60 times. He came under fire from people who claimed he refused to pay them for their work, but no prosecutor saw fit to charge him with theft or fraud.
In a criminal justice system that seeks equal justice under the law, both the rich and the poor must be held accountable, and one way to do this is to abolish the current system of fixed fines and instead set amounts according to the defendant’s wealth.
Fines, whether they’re speeding fines or criminal contempt charges, should actually be a deterrent. When 44 percent of Americans don’t have $1,000 in their bank accounts, fixed fines create a system that allows the wealthy to get out of trouble with money.
Another way to ensure equal justice under the law is to devote more prosecutorial resources to financial crimes committed by the wealthy, such as tax evasion. Poor people who accept government benefits they are not entitled to and wealthy people who refuse to pay the taxes they owe the government are both committing theft, but poor people are much more likely to be prosecuted.
The U.S. Treasury Department estimates that the “tax gap” — the difference between taxes owed and taxes collected — is about $600 billion per year And the richest 1 percent are underpaying $160 billion, meaning the richest 1 percent account for more than 25 percent of the tax shortfall.
When a person accused of a crime is too poor to hire a lawyer, that is the case. 82% of people charged with a felonyStates need to make sure that the lawyers working on their cases have the time and resources to mount a thorough defense. Trump received the best defense money could buy, but the public defenders who serve in the same courts where he was tried are sometimesSecond JobTo make ends meet.
When Trump went to trial, he enjoyed all the privileges of the wealthy: he could avoid jail because he could pay bail, he could hire the best lawyers, and even he could violate court orders because the $1,000 fine for contempt of court meant nothing to him.
Wealth has allowed him and others like him to escape accountability. Penthouse dwellers rarely receive justice in a court of law. It is not equal justice under the law.
John GrossHe is a clinical associate professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School and director of the Public Defender Project.
