"People of low socio-economic status are vastly overrepresented in our prisons primarily due to the following two factors: (1) they commit more crimes, due to bad formative circumstantial luck (e.g. I don't have much incentive to beat someone up to steal his wallet, though I might if my employment opportunities were dim at best) and 2) the quality of legal representation they receive is abysmal."
I don't agree with #1 at all. People who aren't poor commit lots of crimes -- especially including drug stuff and abuse stuff -- not to mention the economic crimes of the captains of industry. They just don't get charged.
Joanna