When thinking of what is the role of a criminal lawyer, people often have one of two images in their heads. They either envision some form of \”white knight\”, defending the poor and wrongly accused against bureaucracy and corruption, or a slimy attorney trying to find loopholes in the law to keep every guilty criminal back on the streets. However, both these images are extremely inaccurate. The following article will take a closer look at just what is the role of a criminal lawyer, to help you better understand exactly what their job is, and where they fall in the legal system.

Negotiating Plea Bargains

Strictly speaking, a criminal lawyer\’s job is to be an advocate for someone accused of a crime. However, this does not mean fighting tooth and nail in the courtroom to keep every guilty criminal out of jail. Most cases never see the inside of a courtroom, and are instead settled with pleas. A good defense attorney knows when to look at a client and say there is no way they could win their case at trial, and it would be more beneficial to take a more lenient sentence than try to fight for no sentence and end up with the harsher one after losing.

Collaboration with Prosecutors

Believe it or not, prosecutors and criminal lawyers are not purely adversaries. While they fight against each other at trial, and sometimes disagree on plea agreements, overall they do try to work together. Much of the work involved with being a defense attorney is in sharing paperwork and evidence with the prosecution to give both sides the full story, formulating agreements, and coming to settlements which make sure that both sides are convinced the defendant has a fair sentence for any crime he or she may have committed.

Going to Trial

Of course, some cases do make it all the way to a trial by jury. If this happens, it is usually because the lawyer believes there is not enough evidence to say that the defendant actually committed the crime. This is not some ridiculous attempt to keep guilty people on the streets, but rather an important balance in our legal system to make sure that innocent people are not put in jail just because the police were in a hurry to catch someone, or the defendant roughly fit a perpetrator description and had no solid alibi. When this occurs, it then becomes the role of the defense attorney to point out these holes in the evidence. Contrary to popular belief, the lawyer\’s job is not to prove that the defendant is innocent, or to find legal excuses why he or she in unable to be prosecuted, but simply to show a jury that there is not enough proof of guilt to justify taking twenty years from a person\’s life in the form of a prison sentence.

As you can see, in examining what is the role of a criminal lawyer there are many things to consider. A criminal attorney is neither a hero nor a villain, but simply an important piece in a complex legal system. Their role is mainly to assure that every defendant has a fair chance after being accused of a crime.

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Category: Legal
Keywords: Lawyer, Attorney, criminal lawyer, lawyers, law, legal, defence, crime, society, family, DUI