When I heard that everyone takes criminal law second semester, I was excited. Images of Law & Order popped into my head and I couldn't wait to read the interesting cases. Though the cases are indeed interesting to read, they're emotionally draining. The details can be graphic, the stories can be tragic, and unlike most Law & Order episodes- you don't always feel like justice has been served in the end.
Last night, I read Commonwealth v. Berkowitz, where, in a nutshell, the defendant knew the victim and proceeded to have sex with her even though she said no several times. The Appellate court reversed the guilty verdict for several obviously ridiculous reasons. For example, they said that since she didn't physically fight back, obviously she didn't mean no when she said it (never mind the fact that she maybe couldn't, or was scared, or was in shock). The court also said that the quickness of the incident proves that the girl wanted to have sex. And of course, they say that since this happened in a dorm room in the middle of the day with a guy that the victim knew, it certainly couldn't have been rape. I went to bed feeling disgusted.
I try to give everything the benefit of the doubt, but if you read the facts of this case yourself, you can see that the Appellate Court was completely wrong and that their reasoning was so illogical, wrong, and sexist (and as feminist as you think I am, I don't throw that word around a lot).
After reading these kind of cases, you would think that I hate criminal lawers. You know, those "sleazy defense attorneys," who make up defenses such as saying that "He wasn't choking her, it was a strong caress" (Rusk v. State). Or you could think that I would hate "overzealous prosecutors," like the prosecutor in the Genarlow Wilson case. (Click the link if you want to read a sad story with archaic laws).
But oddly enough, I still have respect for the field as a whole. There will always be people who give an occupation a bad name, and there will always be trials where justice does not prevail (these cases are in our books and in the news for a reason). The good people don't get the publicity, but they are the people who work long hours on these hard cases, with people's lives in their hands. I get outraged or frustrated just working on criminal law as a 3 unit class; I don't know how people do it for a living without it weighing heavily upon them.
So to crimnal lawyers on both sides of the aisle, the district attorneys and the defense attorneys, I salute you. You play an important part in our system that I don't think I could ever do.
2 comments:
My parents have said for a long time that the main reason they pursued non-criminal law was because they could imagine a situation like this: A man would walk into their office, drop a brown paper bag soaked through with blood on the desk, and tell them that the boots he had just used to stamp someone to death were in the bag, and that he wanted them to defend him.
It just takes a certain kind of person to be able to do these kinds of things, I guess. But it's certainly not something for everyone.
One of my uncles has been a criminal defense lawyer for nearly 30 years now, and watching the way it's worn on him has thus far been the deciding factor in steering me away from criminal law. Although my experiences working here in the juvenile center have really gotten me itching to start working on the juvenile justice system back home, I don't think I could put my lifetime into that without coming out a shell at the end.
Criminal lawyers, on the whole, have a lot of respect from me. As you say, there are always going to be the sleazy ones who give the rest a bad name, but without somebody willing to prosecute and somebody willing to defend, we'd be a pretty sorry mess, and they do some pretty emotionally draining work that a lot of people couldn't handle, myself included.
Post a Comment