Essay On Public Defender

In a retributive justice system, the state is tasked with bringing Blanco-Garcia to justice. The state will accuse Blanco-Garcia of murdering Vanessa Pham and hold an adversarial trial to determine whether he is guilty of the crime or not. An appointed defense attorney (DA) will represent Blanco-Garcia at trial. Due process demands that the defendant is afforded legal representation to argue matters of law on his behalf as well as to protect the defendant’s other due process rights. Likewise, the state will also be represented by a legal agent, the commonwealth attorney (CA).

Judges act as though they are Zeus or above every other person. Our justice system is impartial at times and we forget what truly matter. In a formal petition in the case of Katherine v Mcknamara, Kinsella “Have you ever stopped to consider that public defenders (the poor man’s lawyer) don’t investigate anything?

But somehow, when I present this same basic belief in the context of a secular humanist thrust into the brutal world of criminal justice, it loses its coherence. (Feige 238) Feige cites the criminal justice environment as “brutal,” which has been demonstrated time and time again in the book. He sums up his argument by reminding his audience that there exists no relative glamour in being a public defender: “We public defenders are a strange breed: passionate people spending ourselves in a Sisyphean struggle for justice in a system rigged to crush us” (Feige 268). Exceptionally thankful, then, should all people be for public defenders who spend day in and day out consistently doomed to fail.

The mission of the agency is to provide holistic defense centered specifically around criminal defense practice, however, the Bronx Defenders also specializes in Family Defense practice and other areas of expertise. This agency provides social work support, family defense, criminal defense, immigrant defense and advocate for the residents of the Bronx, who are unable to do that for themselves. At the Bronx defenders, we look beyond individual cases and identify the different systems at play that may be impacting our clients. We use the community as a resource to find and help individuals who find themselves engrossed into the justice system. Most of the families that we come in contact with are of low-income and lack the resources necessary

Many cases have shown people with higher social status to have an upper hand in cases. While the poor and minorities get the lower hand. Being poor means the victim/suspect might not be able to afford a strong defense for themselves, or they’ll receive a public defender. While public defenders are needed and appreciated, being able to afford a lawyer from a million dollar law firm will surely make a difference. Sometimes having an ordinary public defender means the defendant/plaintiff may not be taken as seriously.

More people get incarcerated for non-violent crimes and crimes caused by mental illnesses or drug abuse (Webb, 2009) and because these people get put in regular prisons, instead of in mental health facilities or facilities to help against drug addiction, where they could be treated to further prevent crimes driven by their illness (Webb, 2009), the prisons get overfilled and cannot hold the more ‘important’ prisoners that needed to be locked away from the public. A strong link of the criminal justice process is that the system tries to keep it fair for everyone. Every defendant has the right to an attorney so they can be defended properly and fairly and “Only judges who are adequately informed about a case can effectively control the proceedings and examine evidence” (Tochilovsky, 2002) It is also important for the criminal justice system that those involved show discretion and although this is not always the case, discretion by the judges, police, etc.

STEUBEN COUNTY (WENY) - A proposed New York State law could soon save Steuben County taxpayers a million dollars in costs associated with defending low-income residents. The Steuben County Legislature endorsed a bill on Monday that would make New York State take on more financial responsibility when it comes to paying for the public defense system. Steuben County Manager, Jack Wheeler says right now, counties pay 80 percent of those cost and its only going to go up.

Supposedly capital punishment was created to deter criminals from committing horrible acts of rape and murder, however, today judges and the jury are eager to make anyone the scapegoat for the crimes committed; even the innocent. Nowadays, the judicial system becomes more discriminatory, toward gender, income, and race, in capital crime cases because of the desire to find, what is hoped to be, justice. When someone is convicted of any crime and is in the process of being arrested it is a law that his or her Miranda Rights must be stated before the arrest takes place. One of the major rights stated is “ If you cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed to you.” Now, if the person being arrested has a higher income normally the attorney hired is very experienced and can make the most guilty person sound innocent.

The history of the modern right to counsel for defendants who cannot afford to pay for counsel or lawyer goes back over a century ago; the Indiana Supreme Court in Webb v. Baird, 6 Ind. 13 (1853), officially recognized the right to counsel for a person accused of a crime. However, this decision was not based on constitutional or statutory law but warranted under “the principles of a civilized society.” Since the case of Webb v. Baird, the courts have immensely extended the right to counsel beyond just appointing an indigent person an attorney. For more than a hundred years, the Right to Counsel Clause was interpreted as simply granting the right to retain a private attorney to a defendant but didn’t mean that a poor criminal defendant had

Prosecutors and defense attorneys routinely use peremptory challenges to eliminate frim juries’ individuals who although they express no obvious bias, are thought to be capable of swaying the jury in an undesirable direction. The prosecution and the defense are also protected by the Equal Protection Clause

“In 2005 the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that juries heard 4 percent of all alleged criminal offenses brought before federal courts. State courts match this trend” (Dzur, 2013, p. 31). Legal scholars also noted that state courts over the past 30 years have dropped 15 percent when utilizing a jury for a criminal trial, while only a 10 percent drop when a judge decides the case (Dzur, 2013). These statistics are dramatically higher for civil cases (Dzur,

The Juvenile Justice System was a system created over a century ago to prevent young juveniles under the age of 17 to be process and tried as an adult. The Juvenile system was created to let juveniles have an easier sentencing with fair treatments and rehabilitation, but lately the system has been racially biased towards colored juveniles because of their skin color which results the system being unfair towards colored juveniles in the system. The Juvenile Justice System is racially bias towards colored juveniles, because colored juveniles are more likely to receive harsher treatments than their white counterparts, won’t receive enough resources for rehab, and receiving lack of legal representation for trials. Color juveniles are more likely to receive

Field Study Research Interview: Christina Powers SF Public defender Juvenile Division As I went out and conducted concrete evidence of the juvenile justice system. I was able to talk to a San Francisco Public Defender that works at the Juvenile Division Center.

Students in the criminal justice department are taught that our main objective in the justice system and our careers is to serve and also protect those involved in our community. For as long as I can remember, my goal in life has been to provide service by protecting and serving those who are close to me. My penchant for service is what eventually led me to the Criminal Justice program at Valdosta State University. This passion for service began at a very young age when my life was turned upside down when I relocated from Puerto Rico to the state of Georgia due to a tragic car accident that led to the end of my father’s life. This sudden change of lifestyle and heartbreak came with an extreme amount of struggle and culture shock not just

From an early age I have always had an interest in the legal system, as a child of divorcees the legal system has always had an impact on my life. I have always dreamed about being a family lawyer and have hoped that through hard work and dedication I could make my dream a reality; enter law school, successfully complete the bar exam and utilize my knowledge of the law to help those who may otherwise be left in the cold by the legal system. As I have grown older I have a new understanding of the realities of just how difficult it will be to make my dreams a reality. When writing this application, I had difficulty figuring out what I can say that will set me apart from other candidates. I almost feel as though everything that I will say has been said before and there are most likely some situations that sound more sympathetic than my own.