report a couple of years ago has “[t]riage replaced justice in Missouri’s courts,” people languish in jail weeks or even months “for with no access to counsel,” and attorneys are forced to take that lead to wrongful “shortcuts convictions.” Triage is appropriate for medics on a battlefield, who prepare the wounded for evacuation to a place whether they will get medical care from doctors. But it has no place in the representation of clients in courts. And what is happening is not The clients “triage.” who get short shrift are not being prepared for someone else to attend to them; their cases are disposed of for all time because it is determined they don’t merit more than a few minutes of a lawyer’s time…. Judge Wilkinson acknowledges the wide disparity between resources for prosecutors and lawyers for the poor at several points, but understates just how great that disparity is. He vaguely acknowledges prosecutors “that generally have access to more investigative resources than criminal defendants.” In cases
report a couple of years ago “[t]riage has replaced justice in Missouri’s courts,” people languish in jail “for weeks or even months with no access to counsel,” and attorneys are forced to take “shortcuts that lead to wrongful convictions.” Triage is appropriate for medics on a battlefield, who prepare the wounded for evacuation to a place whether they will get medical care from doctors. But it has no place in the representation of clients in courts. And what is happening is not “triage.” The clients who get short shrift are not being prepared for someone else to attend to them; their cases are disposed of for all time because it is determined they don’t merit more than a few minutes of a lawyer’s time…. Judge Wilkinson acknowledges the wide disparity between resources for prosecutors and lawyers for the poor at several points, but understates just how great that disparity is. He vaguely acknowledges “that prosecutors generally have access to more investigative resources than criminal defendants.” In cases