I am not very familiar with penalties in EU, but I thought that on all the basics, like fraud, robbery, burglary, assault, murder, etc the penalties were comparable to US. Where US does go insane is when it comes to drug and gun crimes. The NRA lobbied for very stiff penalties for anyone who uses a gun in a crime, at least in CA. The drugs on the other hand are just a national obsession for people here in US, so I get that criticism. But on all the basics, I think EU and US are at parity. The Federal prosecutors are quite insane, but Obama has been trying to fix that, and many Federal judges are quite reasonable. But again, if US does need adjust something, it&#x27;s the Federal system.<p>As for money and lawyers, US, at least in CA has excellent public defenders. I might be biased, because a few of my good friends are public defenders. But also the smartest man I ever meat, at least when it comes to law, was head Public Defender in San Diego. Public defender job in a major city is a very competitive position. That&#x27;s my first hand experience in CA. Not sure about other states.