Historical Distrust of Lawyers and Early Bans
Public skepticism toward lawyers has deep roots. William Shakespeare famously quipped, “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers,” in Henry VI, highlighting a centuries-old distrust of the legal profession 1. In early America, some colonies went so far as to ban or distrust attorneys outright over concerns of corruption and self-interest. For example, the Carolinas’ 1669 Fundamental Constitutions declared it “a base and vile thing to plead for money or reward,” reflecting a belief that lawyering for profit was morally suspect. Likewise, colonies like Virginia and Connecticut at one point prohibited lawyers from practicing due to pervasive anti-lawyer sentiment 2. Early colonists feared that paid attorneys might subvert justice for personal gain, preferring to resolve disputes without “pettifogging” lawyers. This historical backdrop of mistrust forms an interesting contrast to today’s legal system, where lawyers – including criminal defense attorneys – are integral to due process, yet public wariness about their motives justifiably lingers.
Criminal Defense Attorneys in Georgia’s Justice System
In modern Georgia, criminal defense attorneys play a critical role in upholding the right to counsel, but their participation in the justice system is also a source of enormous profit. Private defense attorneys typically charge defendants (or their families) substantial fees to represent them in criminal cases, these fees are charged up front and are non-refundable. The attorney then has little incentive to put in the time to investigate a case, instead he or she is incentivized to take as many cases as possible and work out plea deals instead of over time-consuming trials. In fact, the overwhelming majority of criminal cases end in plea bargains rather than jury trials – over 95% of convictions nationwide are obtained through guilty pleas rather than verdicts 3. Georgia is no exception; busy court dockets and limited resources mean defense lawyers often negotiate pleas to resolve cases efficiently. While plea bargaining may be a necessary part of the system, critics argue it can reward a “meet ’em and plead ’em” approach, where some defense lawyers profit by handling many cases quickly, potentially at the expense of a defendant’s best interest.
Public defenders (who represent indigent defendants in Georgia) are salaried and don’t profit per case, but their heavy caseloads create even more pressure to dispose of cases rapidly as well. Until reforms in the mid-2000s, Georgia’s indigent defense was notoriously underfunded, with some court-appointed attorneys juggling hundreds of cases for low flat fees. This created a structural conflict: attorneys paid a set amount regardless of time spent had a financial incentive to spend as little time as possible on each case, often urging quick guilty pleas. Such practices contributed to mass incarceration by speeding people through the system into prison or probation without robust defense. Even today, observers note that when every actor – judges, prosecutors, and defense counsel – is incentivized to process cases swiftly, the outcome is a high volume of convictions and probationary sentences, fueling Georgia’s extensive criminal justice supervision population. Defense attorneys, like others in the system, depend on this steady flow of cases for their livelihood, which raises the uncomfortable notion that tough-on-crime policies and high arrest rates can be economically beneficial to the legal profession. In short, the criminal justice “industry” in Georgia provides income for defense lawyers, which can be seen as a profit motive to sustain the status quo of large numbers of prosecutions.
Legal Corruption and Misconduct in Georgia
Despite the honorable intentions of some attorneys and judges, Georgia’s legal system has seen egregious cases of misconduct that validate some of the public’s worst fears. Notable examples of judicial and legal corruption in Georgia include:
• 2008 Alapaha Judicial Circuit Scandal: A federal investigation uncovered a corruption ring in rural Clinch County. Longtime Superior Court Judge Brooks Blitch III, a juvenile court judge who was Blitch’s former law partner, a court administrator, and a local attorney were indicted on 19 counts for manipulating the court for personal gain. The scheme involved creating unnecessary court positions to reward friends, exchanging legal favors, and even imposing illegal fees on defendants. Investigators found that Judge Blitch ordered all divorcing parents to attend a counseling program run by his associates and tacked on unauthorized $10–$15 fees in criminal cases, funneling some $73,000 to insiders off the books 4. Blitch was also charged with extortion for offering to “fix or get rid of” DUI cases for a price. This scandal illustrated a brazen conflict of interest: judges and lawyers colluding to profit from judicial power, at the expense of litigants’ rights.
• 2011 Glynn County Drug Court Abuses: Superior Court Judge Amanda F. Williams of Brunswick (Brunswick Judicial Circuit) resigned after a 14-count ethics complaint exposed severe abuses in her drug court. According to the Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission, Judge Williams jailed drug-court defendants indefinitely (holding some in solitary confinement for months) with no set release, far beyond legal norms. She once incarcerated a young man for 2 weeks simply because she disliked him using the slang “baby momma” in her courtroom. Perhaps most shocking, Williams was accused of nepotism – presiding over cases in which her husband and daughter were the attorneys of record, and even appointing her daughter as a guardian ad litem in a custody case she oversaw 5. Such entanglements violated basic ethics of impartiality. The complaint also described Williams as running her courtroom in a “rude, abusive, or insulting” manner. The scandal, which gained national attention after a 2011 This American Life exposé, showed how a judge’s unbridled power and family connections created a mini-fiefdom. Williams stepped down rather than face removal, but the case underscored how judicial misconduct can directly harm defendants and undermine trust in supposedly rehabilitative programs like drug court.
• 2021 Pickens County Embezzlement Case: Even financial corruption has reared its head. In 2021, former Pickens County Chief Magistrate Judge William “Allen” Wigington was sentenced to prison after being convicted on 44 felonies including theft, forgery, and violation of oath of office. An investigation revealed Wigington had been embezzling public funds – using his county credit card to buy personal items and billing the county for bogus “work trips” that were actually vacations. In one instance, a local defense attorney gave the judge $200 to buy a suit for a high school student who made a mock trial team; Wigington pocketed the cash and instead charged a county account, getting himself a new suit and only incidentally buying one for the student 6. This kind of petty graft by a judge – literally stealing a lawyer’s charitable donation – may not directly affect case outcomes, but it flagrantly violates the public trust. The case demonstrated that some Georgia judges have exploited their position for personal profit, reinforcing cynicism about the judicial system’s integrity.
• 2021 Ahmaud Arbery Case Misconduct: In a high-profile example involving an attorney official, Brunswick District Attorney Jackie Johnson was indicted in the fallout of the Ahmaud Arbery murder. Georgia’s Attorney General charged Johnson with violating her oath and obstructing law enforcement, alleging that she abused her power to shield the suspects who killed Arbery (one of whom had been an investigator in her office) 7. According to investigators, after the 2020 shooting, DA Johnson delayed the arrests of the men involved and steered the case to a friendly prosecutor, instead of allowing an impartial inquiry. This perceived favoritism toward a former colleague – essentially putting personal ties above justice – sparked public outrage and contributed to her being voted out of office. (Johnson’s charges were later dismissed on procedural grounds, but the incident led Georgia to reform rules on removing conflicted prosecutors.) The Arbery case underscores how conflicts of interest by legal authorities can have devastating consequences, eroding community confidence and, in this instance, delaying accountability for a violent crime.
These cases, among others, show that Georgia is riddled with corruption among those tasked with administering justice. Whether it’s defense attorneys colluding with judges, judges running courts like personal businesses, or prosecutors protecting friends, such misconduct reveals how self-interest and nepotism can subvert the legal process. Importantly, while these examples involve outright illegal or unethical behavior, they point to larger structural problems that go beyond “a few bad apples.” They highlight a system susceptible to conflicts of interest.
Conflicts of Interest and Systemic Issues in Georgia
Georgia’s criminal justice system has been criticized for structural incentives that prioritize revenue and punishment in ways that create conflicts of interest for attorneys, judges, and even lawmakers. The state’s extraordinarily high rate of people under correctional control speaks to these systemic issues. Georgia has one of the highest incarceration and supervision rates in the country – by some measures the highest. As of recent years, roughly 1 in 18 adult Georgians is either in prison, in jail, on probation, or on parole, far above the national average. 1 in 7 adults in Georgia have a felony conviction on their record. This outsized system did not grow by accident; it has been fed by policies and practices that often intertwine justice with financial gain 8.
One major driver is Georgia’s extensive use of probation, especially privatized probation for misdemeanor offenses. Roughly 80% of Georgia’s misdemeanor probationers are supervised by private, for-profit probation companies rather than state officers. These companies make their money by charging probationers fees for supervision and services. As one Southern Center for Human Rights attorney put it, “Georgia leads the nation in the number of people on probation because of Georgia’s booming private probation industry… These companies have a profit motive to have as many people on probation as possible for as long as possible. It’s as simple as that.” 8. This profit motive can influence judges and courts (who contract with these companies) to impose longer probation terms and excessive conditions, effectively monetizing low-level offenders. Indeed, in past years some Georgia courts were found to be extending probation or jailing people who couldn’t pay fines, in partnership with probation firms – a modern-day debtors’ prison scenario. The state legislature faced backlash in 2014 when it passed a bill (HB 837) that would have shielded private probation firms from public scrutiny and allowed indefinite probation extensions for unpaid fines. Critics warned this was a blatant attempt to protect a moneymaking enterprise at the expense of citizens’ rights. Governor Nathan Deal ultimately vetoed the bill after public outcry, stopping the private probation industry from effectively writing its own rules 9.
The episode revealed how lawmakers, many of whom are attorneys or have ties to the justice system, can create conflicts of interest by enabling policies that financially benefit the legal system’s stakeholders (in this case, a probation company lobby) while harming the public.
Conflicts of interest can also arise in smaller, everyday ways that cumulatively contribute to harsh outcomes. In many Georgia counties, judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys all know each other and sometimes rotate roles (a prosecutor today might be a defense attorney tomorrow, or a legislator might also maintain a law practice). This close-knit legal community, especially in rural areas, can blur lines of duty. For instance, if a judge’s former law partners or relatives regularly appear before them as defense counsel, will the judge be truly impartial? The Amanda Williams case showed an extreme example of familial conflict in court. Likewise, if a defense attorney is dependent on the goodwill of a judge for future appointments to cases (or a judge relies on campaign donations from local lawyers), there is subtle pressure not to be too adversarial – potentially shortchanging the zealous advocacy a defendant should receive.
Such unspoken quid pro quo dynamics can lead to defendants accepting plea deals quickly or not appealing unjust sentences, reinforcing the cycle of incarceration.
Furthermore, political careers in Georgia have sometimes been built on “tough on crime” stances that, while ostensibly about public safety, also benefit those within the system. Legislators (including former prosecutors and defense lawyers in the General Assembly) have historically passed stringent laws like mandatory minimum sentences and recidivist enhancements that swell the prison population. While the intent may be punitive, an indirect effect is more business for prisons, probation services, and of course lawyers (from more appeals, more post-conviction work, etc.).
Mass incarceration itself creates an economy – something Georgia’s private prison contracts and probation industries know well.
The legal establishment’s interwoven relationships mean there is often little incentive to radically reform a system that so many professionals depend on, even as communities bear the cost of high incarceration rates.
In summary, Georgia’s criminal justice system, like that of many states, faces a paradox, something that makes the early founders of this country seem much wiser than present leaders: it relies on adversarial legal actors (defense attorneys, prosecutors, judges) to be ethical champions of justice, yet the system’s structure often rewards efficiency, revenue, and conviction counts over individuals’ rights. Historical fears of corruption – from Shakespeare’s jest to colonial bans on “pleading for money” – resonate today when we see defense attorneys making a living from a bloated justice system or judges and officials engaging in misconduct.
The examples of corruption and conflicts of interest in Georgia highlight how lawyers and those in power can profit from or perpetuate a punitive system, sometimes to the detriment of justice. While many honest defense attorneys fight hard for their clients, the systemic incentives in Georgia (financial and political) can create an environment where mass incarceration and legal profiteering feed each other. Recognizing and addressing these conflicts of interest – through stronger ethics rules, transparency, and reforms – is crucial if Georgia hopes to shed its reputation for legal corruption and reduce its overreliance on incarceration and supervision 8.
The long-standing public distrust of lawyers will only ease when the justice system puts fairness over profits.
Are We Doomed? When Corruption Becomes Too Deep to Fix
At what point does a system become too corrupt to reform? When those in power—judges, defense attorneys, prosecutors, and lawmakers—are the very people profiting from mass incarceration, what incentive do they have to dismantle the machine?
Georgia’s legal system has evolved into an economic powerhouse, not for justice, but for those who profit from it. Criminal defense attorneys charge exorbitant fees up front, regardless of how much effort they put into a case. Judges and prosecutors, many of whom are former defense attorneys, make their careers off high conviction rates and lucrative legal networks. State legislators—who are disproportionately attorneys—write laws that expand the prison-industrial complex rather than reform it. Meanwhile, probation companies, prison contractors, and bail bondsmen rake in billions, ensuring that Georgia remains one of the most incarcerated states in the country.
So where does that leave us? Can a system be reformed when everyone with the power to change it benefits from its dysfunction?
The Self-Sustaining Cycle of Legal Corruption
Corrupt systems do not collapse on their own. They persist until external pressure forces change, or until they become so bloated and unsustainable that they implode. The Georgia justice system is approaching a crisis point:
1. Overcrowded Prisons and Exploding Costs
- Georgia already spends $1.5 billion annually on corrections, plus hundreds of millions more on special appropriations, yet its prisons are overcrowded, understaffed, and violent 10.
- The cost of maintaining this system keeps rising, yet crime is not going down in any significant way compared to other states with lower incarceration rates.
2. Public Defenders and Courts at a Breaking Point
- Georgia’s public defender system is chronically underfunded, with attorneys handling hundreds of cases at a time, leading to wrongful convictions, delayed trials, and overburdened courts 11.
- Many defendants cannot afford a private attorney, yet public defenders are often too overwhelmed to provide a real defense, leading to a conveyor belt of guilty pleas.
3. Incentives to Keep the Status Quo
- Judges and district attorneys are elected officials, and running on a “tough on crime” platform is a political goldmine in Georgia. Any politician pushing for real reform faces attack ads calling them “soft on crime.”
- Defense attorneys and private probation companies profit off prolonged legal entanglements—there is no financial incentive to speed up the process or reduce incarceration.
- The Georgia legislature is heavily populated by attorneys, meaning the people who write the laws are the very ones who profit from them 12.
Has Corruption Gone Too Far?
If the people in power financially depend on maintaining the system as-is, then how can change ever happen? Throughout history, deeply corrupt systems have only changed when:
1. Public Outrage Reaches a Boiling Point
- When a system becomes so abusive, so corrupt, that even the average citizen feels its impact, mass pressure can force change. This happened with the Civil Rights Movement, labor laws, and even criminal justice reforms in other states.
2. The System Becomes Too Expensive to Sustain (or a major economic collapse effecting the nation)
- If Georgia’s prison system continues to drain billions in tax dollars while crime rates fail to improve, fiscal conservatives may turn against it purely for economic reasons.
3. A Major Political Shift Occurs (or war)
- If a future administration prioritizes reform over political donations from legal and corrections lobbies, sweeping changes could take place. But this would require an unprecedented political shift.
Is There Hope for Georgia’s Justice System?
At present, the system benefits too many powerful people to expect reform from within. However, the situation is not hopeless. The collapse of similarly corrupt systems has come from:
✅ Federal Intervention: If Georgia’s justice system continues to violate constitutional rights, the U.S. Department of Justice could step in with federal oversight, as it has in the past in other states 13.
✅ Public Awareness and Pressure: The more people learn about the corruption, the harder it becomes for officials to pretend it doesn’t exist. Public outrage, media exposure, and advocacy can force change.
✅ Economic Realities: No system can sustain mass incarceration forever. As costs skyrocket, pragmatic lawmakers and business leaders may start demanding change—not out of morality, but to cut spending.
The question isn’t whether Georgia’s justice system is corrupt. The question is whether citizens will tolerate it—or demand something better.
Call to Action: The System Won’t Fix Itself—Demand Change
Georgia’s legal system is broken, and those in power have no incentive to fix it. The only way to create real change is through public pressure. If we stay silent, the corruption continues.
📢 Here’s what you can do:
✅ Use Impact Justice AI to send letters to Georgia legislators and demand reform: https://ImpactJustice.AI
✅ Contact local media—reporters need to hear these stories. Call, email, or comment on social media.
✅ Call your state representatives and senators—tell them the legal system is failing, and demand action.
✅ Support independent journalism exposing corruption in Georgia’s justice system.
✅ Share this article and keep the conversation going. The more people who know, the harder it is for them to ignore.
🚨 If we don’t demand change, nothing will change. It’s time to take action. 🚨
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let%27s_kill_all_the_lawyers[↩]
- https://inpropriapersona.com/early-lawyering-in-colonial-america/[↩]
- https://www.aclu.org/news/criminal-law-reform/coercive-plea-bargaining-has-poisoned-the-criminal-justice-system-its-time-to-suck-the-venom-out[↩]
- https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2009/mar/15/georgia-judges-other-officials-indicted-on-corruption-and-human-trafficking-charges/[↩]
- https://coastalcourier.com/news/state-national/brunswick-judge-accused-of-misconduct/[↩]
- https://www.gpb.org/news/2021/05/28/former-north-georgia-judge-heading-prison-after-corruption-convictions[↩]
- https://law.georgia.gov/press-releases/2021-09-02/carr-announces-indictment-former-brunswick-da-violation-oath-public[↩]
- https://www.statesboroherald.com/local/georgia-probation-rate-highest-in-us/[↩][↩][↩]
- https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/georgia-governor-vetoes-private-probation-bill[↩]
- https://www.acluga.org/sites/default/files/sj-blueprint-ga.pdf[↩]
- https://www.gpb.org/news/2021/05/28/georgia-public-defenders-struggle-with-massive-case-loads[↩]
- https://www.legis.ga.gov/members/house[↩]
- https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-investigation-georgia-s-prison-conditions[↩]
