Crowdfunding* Criminal Defense Isn’t The Answer

Within minutes of the O.J. verdict, every criminal defendant called his lawyer and demanded a “dream team,” because if it worked for O.J., it will work for them. That’s when criminal defense lawyers were compelled to explain in small words that (1) they weren’t O.J., and (2) they could barely afford one lawyer, no less four. Hopes were dashed and clients were angry. It was all so unfair.

A new panacea for those accused of crimes, or otherwise under the thumb of the system, is offered by a headline at The Marshall Project, the group of writers slapped together to be the saviors of criminal justice in the absence of any actual knowledge about criminal justice.

Need Cash to Hire a Lawyer? Try Crowdfunding

Oh cool. Except if you read through the shallow anecdotes, two things become clear.  First, to the extent it works at all, the only people who might even consider contributing to a defense are friends and family. Second, even then, it’s not enough to work.

The idea that by putting your personal misery on the internet, people will rush to give you money because you tell such a sad story is, of course, very attractive.

Crowdfunding — once the province of people trying to raise money for things like trendy coffee makers, classroom supplies, or medical treatments — has become a tool for dealing with the criminal justice system. It’s not uncommon to find requests for bail money, legal fees, fines, or even to underwrite payments for expert witnesses at trial.

With varying levels of success, crowdfunders write up their stories and share them online with friends, family, and strangers through social media, hoping to raise hundreds or thousands of dollars. At the same time, some of these pleas have come from people accused of breaking the law, challenging the tolerance of crowdfunding sites.

But what’s left out of this mix is why. Why would anyone else give you their money because of your problems? Because your story is so sad? Because of “JUSTICE!!!”?  There’s no shortage of sad stories in the world, no shortage of cries of injustice. Yours isn’t special. Sorry if that makes you sad, but this isn’t a matter of argument, just reality.

Sure, there are some outlier situations, where a high profile story leads people to give to support their political positions.

Some crowdfunding pages have actually gone viral. An Indiegogo fundraiser for Bree Newsome, the woman who pulled down the Confederate flag in front of the South Carolina State House this year, took in $125,705 toward bail and legal defense for her and other Black Lives Matter activists. One campaign run by Benjamin Crump, the lawyer for the family of Michael Brown, the young man shot to death by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo., last year, raised $316,194 for the family in just three weeks after his death.

But these captured the public’s imagination because of their political impact, because of the cause they reflected. Your cause is you, and you aren’t enough of a cause to make the nation dig into its pockets.

To the extent the notion of crowdfunding offers any help, it’s to alert your friends and family that you’re in need, and provide a mechanism for people who know you and care about you to give what they can to help.

In Oregon, Vanessa Buck is trying to raise at least $2,500 to hire a lawyer for her brother, who was arrested in mid-October and charged wtih stealing a marijuana plant from a woman’s yard and pointing a gun in her face. She has raised only $530 so far, all of which has come from friends and family. One of the reasons she started a crowdfunding page was to allow donors to use credit cards. They don’t have cash, she said, but they’re willing to go a little further into credit card debt to contribute.

But that’s a game that can only be played rarely. Those same people have their own mouths to feed, and maxing out their credit cards for you means they won’t have the wherewithal for their own children. They may be willing to go to the well once, but again? And again? Don’t hold your breath. And don’t be angry with them for not selling off their lives for your life. Everybody has to eat.

Despite the fact that the Marshall Project suggests this might be a viable solution, floating out there for sad defendants to cling to like a life preserver, it’s not. But worse, it’s floated as if it could work if only you do it right.

But just putting up a page may not be enough, she explains. In order to be successful, crowdfunders must establish credibility. Many spend months building up a network, creating videos, and raising initial cash, before launching the page. It’s not uncommon for crowdfunders to put in some of their own money at the beginning, to make it seem as if others have invested.

The likelihood that the prosecutor and judge are going to put your prosecution on hold so you can spend months building up your crowdfunding cred is slim. No, actually none. And while the big name crowdfunding sites, like GoFundMe, forbid seeking funds for a criminal defense, websites no one has heard of are popping up to take up the slack.

But not every crowdfunding site takes issue with these campaigns. At least one platform, Funded Justice, has cropped up specifically for people who cannot afford lawyers in civil and criminal cases. Alan Salvage, chief operating officer, says his site is willing to host any legal campaign, as long as it is not fraudulent. The founder is a lawyer, and the site is committed to the idea that everyone deserves a day in court. Crowdfunding, Salvage says, will someday become a “true equalizer” for the masses.

Pretty warm and fuzzy, though it offers little insight into why anyone would give their hard-earned money for your criminal defense. Even so, this great humanitarian effort has a bit of a dirty side.

It doesn’t cost anything to build a campaign page or run a fundraising campaign on Funded Justice. When fundraising is complete, Funded Justice charges a fee on the total amount of money that has been raised. 

For campaigns that reach or exceed their set funding targets, the fee is 5%. For Flexible Funding campaigns that fall short of their funding targets, the fee is 8%.

In addition, our payment processing partners, PayPal & WePay (for direct credit card and bank account transactions), charge 2.9% plus $0.30 per donation.

What? You thought they were doing this because they cared about you? To the extent you can suck in any friends and family to max out their credit cards, it may not be good for you, and will certainly suck for them, but Alan Salvage will enjoy the benefits of crowdfunding even if you don’t. And you can thank the Marshall Project for promoting this nonsense, because it is, after all, the savior.

*The original title and body used “crowdsourcing” rather than “crowdfunding.” As Mike Masnick pointed out to me on the twitters, they are different things (kidz and their funny words), and that I am a blithering idiot. And so, I’ve corrected my inaccurate word choice.

12 thoughts on “Crowdfunding* Criminal Defense Isn’t The Answer

  1. RAFIV

    Call me cynical, but does the Marshall Project have an relationship with fundedjustice? Perhaps something analogous to an Amazon Affiliate who gets a percentage of sales etc.? Also, why would an attorney allow a client to post possibly incriminating/confidential/contradictory details about their case on a public forum to garner sympathy?

    Finally, it appears that the founder is another legal marketing guru and Law 2.0 exponent . “In 2001, I started my Illinois lawyer referral and legal guidance website with the goal of changing the way that people could find attorneys….My law firm isn’t perfect, but we have helped more than 300,000 people with their unique legal problems…..All of these callers would prevail in the courtroom if they could get in with a level playing field, but they can’t afford it. In my opinion, most of the free legal services out there are a joke and many have long waiting periods..”

    1. SHG Post author

      But what’s wrong with creating false hope when there’s a quick buck to be made, and the Marshall Project to do the advertising?

  2. William Doriss

    “If the glove does not fit, you must acquit.” One of the greatest lines from the annals of criminal defense. You do not learn those in law school.
    If the glove should fit, well then let’s crowd-source fund the defense. If you should lose, you not only go to jail, but you lose your friends in the process and your family does not want to know you. All because some rabid prosecutor lady overcharges you in order to “send a message” that some alleged behavior will not be tolerated by the state.
    Crowd-sourcing is a great idea whose time has come. It might work in specific cases, but is no panacea for the ills of the criminal “justice” system. Somebody must pay. The state insists upon it, and they have most of the guns.

      1. William Doriss

        Zoloft is great, but what for Panic Attacks, which happen every time we walk into the courtroom?
        We’re happy with caffeine. You don’t need a prescription. Someday, we’ll learn not to submit more than one comment per diem.

  3. REvers

    Oh, yes. Put your story on the internet for the whole world to see. For money.

    And the lawyer you manage to hire now has to deal with all the incriminating statements you put in your story without realizing how they can be used against you. Groovy.

    1. SHG Post author

      If it makes you feel any better, after spewing the sad tale on the internet, there still won’t be any money to retain counsel, so no sad retained lawyer tears will be spilled. A few PD tears, perhaps, but they’re tough enough to take it.

  4. Jim Tyre

    There’s no shortage of sad stories in the world, no shortage of cries of injustice. Yours isn’t special.

    You’ve hurt my feelz in ways unimaginable. Will you support my crowdsourcing a legal action against you?

    1. SHG Post author

      You bet. If you hit your target, let me know, we’ll split the money and have a really good dinner so you feelz better.

  5. John Barleycorn

    The Justice Philanthropic Trust really ought to be a thing.

    And you know it would be if estate lawyers who set them up weren’t so cynical and cranky and old CDL’s having to do community service time for jaywalking or parking on the sidewalk could credit their advisory volunteer time on the board against their sentences.

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