US society and its criminal justice system

Regarding the material on the US, we have to consider that America is a society of wide social, political and ethnic diversity and with a high devolvement of governance to the 50 states and to the city and county levels. Politics was at times – and often still is – devious, parochial and with engrained corruption (Grossman, 2008). There is a wide spread of lifestyles and values and with states, cities and communities going from highly liberal to deeply reactionary. Wealth plays an important role and it particularly influences politics, the media, higher education and criminal justice; hence, money, influence and legal muscle can exert a strong impact on criminal and civil cases and on institutional responses. A British investigative reporter pursuing the Ghislaine Maxwell case and her involvement with Jeffrey Epstein commented: ‘Power and money can help blind justice around the world … But in America it’s normal’ (The Guardian, 2020, 23 December). It could also be said on sexual offence cases in the US – but also elsewhere – that the courts are especially favourable to men with money, and abrasive with women as victims or witnesses. In the Weinstein case in New York, for example, there was the four-hour aggressive grilling of a woman in court, which left the witness uncontrollably sobbing. This was perhaps a ‘good day’ in court for the lawyer – a woman – but it is ‘an all-too-familiar spectacle in the US and other courts of “justice”’ (The Guardian, 2020, 3 February).

Then in the notorious Jeffrey Epstein case there was, in 2005, strong evidence of his serious misconduct with underage girls – inducing them into serious sexual conduct and grooming some to recruit more victims – which could have led to a long sentence. Supported by a heavyweight bevy of experienced defence lawyers, there was instead a ‘sweetheart’ deal with the Florida prosecutor, which dismayed many. Epstein pleaded guilty to a minor offence, received a light sentence of 18 months, could go to his office almost daily and was released early on probation.