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Here is a myth you've been told since you were a child:

If you are accused of a crime, you will face a jury of your peers who will decide if you are innocent. They will only decide you are guilty if your guilt is "beyond a reasonable doubt."

This is, for all intents and purposes, not true in the U.S. today.

The advocacy group, The Marshall Project, reports that "trials are rare. About 94 percent of felony convictions at the state level and about 97 percent at the federal level are the result of plea bargains." A plea bargain is where an alleged criminal agrees to put in a guilty plea for a lighter punishment.

Prosecutors and police have an entire toolbox of tools for how they can pressure and lean on an alleged criminal into a plea bargain, even one with a defense attorney. And trials are slow and expensive. Picking 12 jurors, then presenting them with all the evidence and teaching them the law is extremely time (and money) consuming.

But what if trials were affordable, quick, and just? How many fewer innocent people would be behind bars? Could we get closer to the ideal of no one going to prison unless it was "beyond a reasonable doubt" that they were guilty?

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Email: [email protected]
Adam: @ajbraus - [email protected]
Scot: @scotmaupin

adambraus.com (Link to Adam's projects and books)
The Perfect Show (Scot's solo podcast)
The Numey (inflation-free currency)

Thanks to Jonah Burns for the SFM music.