Ethical Duties Of Prosecutors And Defense Attorneys

The Ethical Duties of Prosecutors and Defense Attorneys The adversarial system does not produce justice and truth and is incapable of producing both of them equally. The prosecutor and the defense attorney are two important parts of the adversarial system, but they have opposite roles in what they do in the court room. These two roles play a significant part in why there is this imbalance of justice and truth in the court room. The prosecutor is an important part of the party that seeks justice and pursues the truth. The prosecutor basically ensures that the guilty are punished. Also, they have the power to decide what to charge violators with. This shows that the prosecutor is capable of pursuing justice because their decisions about what
to charge (in accordance with the facts) and offer as a plea deal over rule the police in the end and allows them to penalize the guilty according to the law. Sometimes their decisions can even over rule the judge because the judge isn’t part of the decision about what to charge the suspect with. The prosecutor ensures that the innocent aren’t punished this way and are able to uncover the truth while holding the defendants accountable. All in all, these people prosecute with good faith and with the belief that the defendant is truly guilty. The opposing side is the defense attorney; it is said that the defense attorney has no ethical duty to seek justice or pursue the truth. Defense attorneys operate to defend their client and protect their best interests and rights by challenging the prosecution (who is fighting for the guilty to be punished) at every stage. Also, it is also known that defense attorneys tend to obscure the truth. The adversarial system doesn’t produce justice and truth because of the defense attorneys role. The defense attorney always has an interest in confusing the truth in order to protect their client. There are a few other reasons why the adversarial system doesn't produce the truth or seek justice, For example, not all facts can be presented on trial. This happens due to evidence being obtained illegally, lack of reliability, and the fact that defendants and witnesses have the right to remain silent. This system assumes that there is an equal distribution of resources such as money and time on both sides. This isn't fair because often times a public defender is used to represent a person against the prosecution. Public defenders have high caseloads which doesn't allow them to spend much time on each case. Public defenders are also limited by resources (less than the prosecution usually) and have to take each eligible case that they're assigned to. Lastly, this system focuses on the trials, but the system has few trials due to the plea bargains that the prosecution offers in order for criminals to escape a heavier sentence.