Far from perfect, but seems to be getting the high-profile cases right as of late.
Chauvin verdict was correct.
Daycare Donnie’s delusions of a stolen election were blocked.
Rittenhouse not guilty based on self defense.
And today’s guilty verdicts in the jogging while black case.
I think our system works better than most give it credit for.
The trial system does work much more often than it fails (although it does fail occasionally). On the same day as the Rittenhouse jury, a black man was acquitted of murdering cops, by self defense.
The main problem is that defendants that are well off, or in some cases, become enough of a celebrity case to get super high level pro bono representation, are way, way more likely to be able to avail themselves of their full rights in our system.
The representation you're likely to get if you need a public defender, or can't pay for excellent attorneys, or give up a year of your life in limbo fighting a case, etc, means that many, many defendants are compelled into plea bargaining charges they are either innocent of or definitely have a chance of beating at trial. Most of it is not high profile murder type charges either...you're talking about drug charges, domestic violence, robbery, etc where people just take the hit because they simply can't afford the alternative either in money or time. And those kind of convictions absolutely do have consequences on people's lives and families.
I don't know the total answer, but that's the aspect that really needs reform, not so much the trial mechanism itself. That's a tough nut to crack, but some of the things I would like to see is the state not being able to drag out cases interminably, especially while the accused is in custody. I'd like to require all interrogations, and obviously confessions, be recorded. I think that there should be some reform around the ability of cops to lie to interrogation subjects, i.e. "Your buddy has already confessed" or "We have your fingerprints on the weapon".
While we should always be vigilant that people are getting a fair trial, there is so much set up in the process now that tilts against anyone that is not well off actually getting to a fair trial, and that's the bigger problem with the system right now.
