Hello everyone, it’s a new year, and I’m back, ready to offer more of my thoughts. And, as a disclaimer, unless I state otherwise, this post is made up of my personal opinions. If you have an issue with that, move on to the next blog.
As most people who know me are aware, I’m going into pre-law. And as the title suggests, this blog is about defense attorneys. It’s common knowledge that the vast majority are not big fans of lawyers, specifically defense attorneys. You always hear the same tired statements.
“Oh, you’re defending bad people.”
“What if your client is guilty?”
“You’re helping criminals walk free.”
To the people who think that way, it’s a good thing that you’re not a lawyer. In my opinion, if you cannot separate your personal feelings from your job, this career, and most others, are not for you.
It’s not about whether the client committed the crime; it’s about their rights as a human being. It’s about proportionate sentencing. If a man steals from a grocery store, does that mean he needs to do 15 to twenty years?
Justice goes both ways.
Not every defendant is Jeffrey Dahmer, or Ted Bundy, or whatever other evil criminal you want to list. Do you think that every defendant is a rapist, or a murderer, or a thief? Do you think that every person convicted of a crime is guilty?
This is not an opinion: It is estimated that between 6% and 15.4% of people are wrongfully convicted in the United States. That means, out of 2.3 incarcerated Americans, 138,000-354,200 are wrongly imprisoned.
The rate of wrongful conviction in capital cases is 4%. A rate of 4% is too high when lives are on the line.
Yes, criminal defense lawyers do represent egregious people as well; however, being egregious does not dismantle the Sixth Amendment.
In case you’ve forgotten, the Sixth Amendment, under Article III of the American Constitution, states: “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.”
Now, back to my opinion, to call defense lawyers bad people for defending the accused reads as a lack of intelligence. As said, this is my opinion. Don’t get offended; a hit dog hollers.
I hope that you enjoyed reading my blog; I would much prefer it if you learnedsomething; both would be lovely, though. Below I have cited my sources for this blog, and I will see you next time.
Ciao!
Cited Sources:
Sixth Amendment. (n.d.). National Constitution Center – constitutioncenter.org. https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/amendments/amendment-vi
What is the false conviction rate in the US? (n.d.). https://legalknowledgebase.com/what-is-the-false-conviction-rate-in-the-us
Someone had to say it. Amen sister. I love to hear Lela’s opinion.
I think it’s great you plan to be a criminal defense lawyer. so many “criminals” go unpresented and have no voices in the justice system especially minorities and you being a minority I applaud the fact you have the courage to attempt to interrupt such a corrupt and cruel system.
This is a really good blog, I love how this talk about the law.
Gosh, I didn’t know the rate of wrongful convictions had risen to about 15%. Very glad that you’re going into law. I think that your sense of justice is very strong, and you’ll do wonderful with all of that studying that’s waiting for you.