John Oliver explains why you may no longer have the right to an attorney, using cop shows

John Oliver explains the problem with public defenders

(Image credit: Last Week Tonight)

published 14 September 2015

"The right to a lawyer is a pillar of American jurisprudence, but it's a right we've only had since 1963," John Oliver explained on Sunday's Last Week Tonight. And those Miranda warnings you hear in cop shows — about how "you have the right to an attorney and if you can't afford one, one will be provided for you" — may sadly need updating.

"The problem is, our public defender system is currently massively overburdened," Oliver explained. Between 60 percent and 90 percent of all defendants in the system need a public attorney, depending on jurisdiction. In some counties, public defenders handle 1,000 cases a year, and in others they get to spend only about 7 minutes on each case. "It's easy not to care about this," Oliver conceded, before spending the next 10 minutes persuading you why you should care.

"Fifty years after the Supreme Court gave everyone the fundamental right to an attorney, even if you can't afford one, we now have a system where the most vulnerable people are potentially being charged for access to a hideously broken system," he concluded, and if you don't think you can stomach 15 minutes about that broken system, you can get the gist by skipping to the 13 minute mark, where some great actors recap the main points in less than 2 minutes all while playing good cop/bad cop (and singing Billy Joel) in a pretend cop show. Warning: Oliver goes some dark places, and not just regarding criminal justice — at one point he rates the Muppets on a twisted sexual criteria and at another yells at a picture of a little princess to Google what happened to Princess Diana. There's also some slightly NSFW language. If that doesn't bother you, watch below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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