“If You Cannot Afford a Lawyer, One Will Be Appointed for You”

Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash

Or maybe not.

Most Americans probably get their ideas about the criminal legal system from what we used to call television — from shows like Law and Order and its progeny, where determined, hard-drinking, salt-of-the-earth detectives arrest suspects while reading them their Miranda rights — including the right to a lawyer. (Note: The more common approach is…