Rittenhouse Verdict Highlights Need to Revive Trials to Ensure Justice for All American and Redress Racial Injustice in the Criminal Legal System

Washington, DC (Nov. 21, 2021) – "Americans are deeply divided over the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse. All Americans, however, should celebrate the constitutional right to a public and speedy trial by a jury of our peers. Unfortunately, coercive plea bargaining has virtually eliminated trials from the legal landscape and, as a result, we have suffered decades of mass incarceration of Black and Brown communities and the poor. Every American deserves a trial if accused of a crime and every American should receive fair, humane, and rational treatment in the criminal legal system – a constitutional guarantee which we have failed to honor for every accused person especially for people of color and the poor. NACDL will work tirelessly to revive the right to trial which John Adams called the 'heart and lungs of democracy,'" said NACDL President Martín Sabelli.