Georgia Criminal Defense Lawyers Blog

A basic flaw in many people’s thinking is that they can go to court and “talk to the judge about it” or “work things out with the prosecutor.” They believe that because they are not “one of those criminals” and their “case is the exception,” they can convince the prosecutor or judge to drop the criminal charges against them . The truth is very different. Due to Zero Tolerance policing, just about everyone who has been caught doing something the least bit illegal is now ending up in the courtroom. As a result, your general good character is not going to convince a judge or prosecutor to give you a break. When you walk into the courtroom, no matter who you are, the judge and prosecutor see you as just another criminal defendant, another piece of meat to feed to The Beast.

First, courtrooms are more crowded than ever before, and judges and prosecutors are often overworked and overwhelmed. America’s criminal justice system has grown into a huge industry – the “prison-industrial complex” — that provides millions of jobs and massive amounts of tax revenue for states and counties. Criminal justice is the one area besides the military where politicians today can advocate for bigger government and more taxes and get elected.

Second, prosecutors and judges no longer have the independence to exercise discretion in prosecution and sentencing that they had a generation ago. Powerful special interest groups spend millions of dollars monitoring conviction rates of judges and prosecutors across the country. Officials who do not live up to the conviction targets of organizations such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) face a very real threat of losing the next election. If you appear in their courtroom and they show you any leniency, their jobs may be on the line.