Ethical Issues of the Defense and Prosecution
Without crime, there would be no law. The role of a prosecutor is to win their case the role of the defense is to dress up the truth to win theirs. Persuasion is a march. Each step taken is to guide thoughts, change hearts, and impact minds, all without coercion yet a firm hand. It has been everywhere trying to sell itself to anyone who is willing to listen. Therefore, can we dare say there is any true ethic when it comes to the prosecution or the defenses main objective to win? I dare say not. Both parties rely heavily on persuasion in the form of “justice” although, each party may go about doing things differently, their sole purpose is gear toward the end result which is to win the case (Roh Myung Sun, 2014).
The defense aims to get their clients back out on the streets free as a bird. Even if that means they are in the position of defending a guilty client. The job of the defense is not an easy one. Since attorneys cannot lie to the court, they dress up the truth under client-attorney advantage, which prevents attorneys from being compelled and reveal clients’ private information. A perfect example of this is the case of 2-year-old Caylee Anothy. Caylee’s grandmother reported of her missing on July 15, 2008. Later, her corpse was later found in the woods on December 10, 2008. Her mother Casey fabricated stories about Caylee’s disappearance and was charged. Her case lasted 6 weeks. However, Casey was not found guilty on the murder charge but she was found guilty of providing false information to police. While it is obvious that she is guilty her team of lawyers did a very good job of proving her innocence. Leaving the prosecution in the dust questioning whether or not the jury understood the concept of reasonable doubt (King & Heise, 2018).
When it comes to the prosecution they really know how to get down and dirty even if it means bending the rules to get a guilty verdict. The prosecution attempts to arrive at or prove that the prohibited act has been committed and should be punished in accordance with the constitution. In order to make this call, the prosecution has a burden of proving its accusations are proven and such proof has in most cases been manipulated in favor of the prosecution (King & Heise, 2018). For instance, in June 1971 a couple was killed after which their bodies got dumped into Waikato River. Thomas Alan, who was a farmer in the locale, was convicted twice for the murder but later received a royal pardon. After his pardon, it was concluded that Mr. Johnston, as well as Mr. Hutton, had initially planted the evidence which was shell cases that had been used for the murder by a royal commission (Roh Myung Sun, 2014).
Researches, as well as reports, have gone far and wide in proving which side is associated with ethical issues that need to be dealt with to an extent of providing cases that have never been solved as a result of how extreme each of the sides has gone. However, from a personal perspective, the prosecution has had the greatest deal of issues to deal with. This can be based on the fact that in the current era corruption has ensured even the innocent have ended up in prison paying for mistakes they didn’t commit.
References
King, N., & Heise, M. (2018). Appeals by the Prosecution. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 15(3), pg. 1. doi: 10.1111/jels.12190
Roh Myung Sun. (2014). Small Thoughts on the Reform of the Prosecution Service and the Creation of Permanent Special Prosecution System. Sungkyunkwan Law Review, 26(1), pg 2. doi: 10.17008/skklr.2014.26.1.004