Peter Schaffer: Comparing States Criminal Justice Systems | Peter J. Schaffer | Big Think

Peter Schaffer: Comparing States Criminal Justice Systems

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Bias in the criminal justice system and how to rectify it

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Peter J. Schaffer:

Peter J. Schaffer, Attorney at Law devotes his practice to New York State criminal defense and the defense of all federal criminal matters throughout the United States. From his office in Bronx, New York, Mr. Schaffer is readily accessible to all New York City, Nassau and Westchester County Criminal and State Supreme Courts, as well as the U.S. District Courts for the District of Connecticut and the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.

With a wealth of experience handling cases ranging from simple traffic violations to complex federal death penalty eligible felonies, Mr. Schaffer uses the knowledge and skills he has developed over the past twenty-one years of trial work to help his clients achieve the best result in every case he defends.

Mr. Schaffer appears regularly on The Nancy Grace Show on CNN HeadlineNews, and on IN SESSION on truTV (formerly, courtTV), and has been heard on Sirius Satellite Radio and Bloomberg Radio as a guest commentator on nationally prominent criminal trials.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Peter Schaffer: Well, I think that there are worse places. I mean I practice in Connecticut and New York and certainly there’s other parts of the country where, although we all are supposedly bound by the same constitution, the same general principles, there are places where a person, even though presumed innocent, that that’s probably not the case. So I don’t travel too much as far as my practice, but I have gone around the country at various meetings, seminars and training things and I mean I feel fairly confident that in the northeast, in New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts, that there is probably more

attention and more care given to make sure that people really get the presumption of innocence and get a fair treatment in the criminal justice systems. That’s not to say that people always do, but if you were to compare it to other parts of the country, I think we’re doing better.

Question: As a defendant, what state do you least want to be prosecuted in?

Peter Schaffer: Well, I don’t know all of the states. You know, from what I’ve heard about places, you know, Mississippi, Alabama, certainly Texas and Florida are very liberal with the use of the death penalty. I wouldn’t only limit it to the south, but again, my knowledge of everything that goes on in the country is not great, but those places are traditionally not known for being a great place to be a criminal defendant.

Question: Do you see evidence of systemic bias in the New York Criminal justice system?

Peter Schaffer: I think everywhere there still is. I still think that there is racism, sexism, classism. Maybe the most would be bias on the basis of class because people that can afford to be out on bail, that can afford to spend a tremendous amount on their defense are certainly gonna fare better for the most part than people that are not. And I think that the general feeling is, you know, small matters that people in the majority that are at least middle class, they’re gonna do much better for the most part than poor people that will probably in a lot of cases plead

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guilty because there’s really- they don’t see much of a benefit. They may be better off pleading guilty to get out quicker than trying to fight a case in which they might prevail but they can’t pay bail. So I still think even though New York is better than most places, there is certainly bias.

Question: How can that be rectified?

Read the full transcript at