By Carl Patel
Devil’s Attorneys or Dark Knights
When I tell most people that I handle criminal defense work, I always get a disgusted face in response, if not an eyebrow rise. If there could ever be two things as contradictory to and simultaneously be in concurrence with each other, it has to be society and the legal system.
The legal systems speak in one voice of criminals by finding them as scum. So now the question arises, why would anyone want to practice such a profession? Most of us judge a criminal defense lawyer as somebody who has loose morals and who is inherently vile himself. Now this may be true for some advocates however, very few have actually ventured to these attorneys and inquired as to why they do so.
Before starting off, I would like to emphasize that the criminal law of our land is very strongly favored to the prosecution side giving judges the power to inquire into the truth behind the acts committed rather than leaving this burden to the prosecution to prove.
Also there has been a colossal change to reduce the burden of proof on the prosecution in cases against women. Leaving consent in cases of rape to be assumed as absent unless proven otherwise, to being assumed guilty unless proven innocent in cases of dowry deaths, the law is clearly favoring women when they are the prosecutrix.
Now, there are numerous crimes that are heinous and blood thirsty. I have not met a single person who has not wanted the death penalty or at least castration for the rape accused. I use the word accused here specifically because we never assume someone could actually be innocent of the accusation.
We get so rattled up by the heinous crime that we just want revenge. We don’t care to see whether we’ve caught the right person or not, the mere fact that the police targets its investigation to the accused is enough. This is hardly fair for the accused and more so if he is falsely made so.
A criminal defense lawyer does everything he can within the law to get the accused off. He plays a pivotal role in the judicial system. We have heard endless tales of police brutality and misconduct. Parliament has appreciated this and has even passed a law which nullifies confessions to police officers unless witnessed by a magistrate.
Does this not entail a variety of false accusations to crimes investigated? Defense counsel is the last stop between an overzealous police force and an overzealous public prosecutor. This however is only in a few rare cases that a client is falsely accused of the crime.
So how does one sleep with himself with the notion that he is putting criminals back on the street to earn his bread and butter? I can’t speak for the others but what I feel is that when he is free he will commit a crime again and sooner or later, he will leave enough evidence to the prosecution to render an acquittal impossible.
But isn’t that too high a cost, you say? How many rapes does one get to commit before he’s put behind bars? Well it’s a travesty when a guilty person is acquitted on the basis of a technicality or lack of evidence. My heart echoes this. However, this acts as a precedent for other criminal trials with possible innocents.
Precedents are judicial orders by courts which are binding and referable for direction in future trials. A court has no option but to follow a precedent unless it is superior to the court in question or of a larger bench of judges.
If we start convicting known criminals on the basis of beliefs and pay no respect to lack of evidence or procedure, it won’t be long before more and more innocents will be put in the crosshairs by the police. It will also relax their efforts to conduct a thorough investigation as to the crime since the burden of proof will be lesser.
I have heard from countless people that what if the criminal put back on the street murders a family member of mine? Is my job really that vital at all? Yet nobody dwells on the possibility of their relative being falsely accused of a crime and convicted based on flimsy evidence because a known criminal was convicted on the same basis.
I would like to believe that I have a conscience. I would like to believe that I do make an impact on society positively. It might not be directly but it is hopefully, in the long run. I know that even after reading this, most of you might not truly appreciate the work that a defense lawyer does.
But I also know that when the police become lax and a near and dear one is accused of a crime he didn’t commit, you’ll want the best damn criminal advocate on your side.
“By defending the guilty, we ultimately defend the innocent.”