united-states criminal-law compensation
Defendant compensation for job salary
<p>Does the government have to compensate the money one could have earned while on trial? </p>

<p>For example: Jim is a full-time employee at a gas stop in the US, and is paid minimum wage. He is the <strong>only source of income</strong> for his wife and three kids. Suddenly, police officers trace a dead body back to his garbage can, and he is taken into custody. He is not able to post bail, and since he does not have the funds to hire a decent lawyer to defend him, the government provides him a third-rate lawyer, he is indicted and the trial lasts five months. The verdict is <em>not guilty</em>, and Jim is released. </p>

<p>Is Jim entitled to compensation by the for the salary he would have earned had he not been on trial?</p>

<p>Most U.S. states provide zero compensation of any kind in this situation, although there are a few states that are exceptions. (Far more states provide compensation from conviction to release for a wrongfully convicted person.) </p>

<p>Even in those few states that provide compensation to acquitted defendants, the compensation is typically set by statute and is frequently much less than what a middle class person would earn and certainly does not capture the full extent of the defendant's economic loss.</p>
