Can A Criminal Lawyer Be Ethical?

Many people believe that lawyers who defend accused criminals cannot themselves be ethical. Skeptics conclude that anyone who will stand up for a person who is accused of a vicious crime must share the same values as the criminal. That is why popular culture often depicts criminal lawyers as immoral or attorneys who have a dark secret or criminal history of their own to hide. But the truth is that many of us overlook or misunderstand the role of a criminal lawyer. He or she often is assigned by the court or retained by an accused person to provide a legitimate defense. This doesn’t necessarily mean the attorney will try to get a guilty person excused from punishment or protect him from the consequences of his actions. It means that the accused will get a fair trail, that all the available evidence will be presented, and that the accused person will have his day in court. Even when it appears that the accused is certainly guilty, as in the case when several witnesses catch someone in the act, a criminal lawyer will check the veracity of each observer’s statements, along with investigating their backgrounds to see if there are possible motives

for them to accuse an innocent person. Furthermore, the attorney will ensure that even if guilty, the convicted felon will receive due process and just punishment, no more and no less than he deserves. Like the rest of us, a criminal lawyer must be able to sleep at night. He or she wants to feel good about the role played in the court system and the contribution made to society. That is why we must be careful about pointing the finger at those who legally defend accused criminals, since the public generally does not possess full knowledge or facts of a case, and we should not try to convict the attorney with his client without understanding the roles of both in a given situation.