Court Room Particiapants
Courtroom Participants’ Professional Standards
Nidia Allan
CJA/224
10/24/12
Most people like to think that the Just system is perfect and does what is best for the people. In some cases it’s true however that is not always the case; Judges, Prosecutors, and Defense Attorneys are held at a high standard and help to determine the futures of people that commit crimes and provide justice for victims. It is important for everyone to understand that Judges, Prosecutors, and Attorneys are human and make mistakes and bad choices as we all do. I will talk about articles I’ve researched that show Prosecutorial misconduct, Ineffective assistance by criminal defense counsel, and Judicial misconduct. There was an article in CNN Justice that talked about California Prosecutors that committed over 130 instances of misconduct in 2010. The Article does not focus on one particular case it is focused on shedding light on many cases and prosecutorial misconduct that not only occurs here in the state of California but all over the country according to researchers of NCIP (Northern California Innocence Project). Between 1997 and 2010, the project found prosecutorial misconduct in more than 800 state and federal cases in California, and in 202 of them, the misconduct resulted in the setting aside of a conviction or sentence, a mistrial or a barring of evidence, the researchers found. In 614 of them, the misconduct didn't affect the fairness of the trial; the studies found in the more than 800 cases, 107 prosecutors committed misconduct. (cite) Unfortunately there are Prosecutors that cross the line and appear to not care because they probably don’t think they will get caught and that is wrong because they have people’s lives and futures in their hands. Some cases resulted in verdict reversals and the consequences for some attorneys was a slap on the wrist and were just cited for misconduct and others resulted suspension of license anywhere from 30days to four years. In the
Nidia Allan
CJA/224
10/24/12
Most people like to think that the Just system is perfect and does what is best for the people. In some cases it’s true however that is not always the case; Judges, Prosecutors, and Defense Attorneys are held at a high standard and help to determine the futures of people that commit crimes and provide justice for victims. It is important for everyone to understand that Judges, Prosecutors, and Attorneys are human and make mistakes and bad choices as we all do. I will talk about articles I’ve researched that show Prosecutorial misconduct, Ineffective assistance by criminal defense counsel, and Judicial misconduct. There was an article in CNN Justice that talked about California Prosecutors that committed over 130 instances of misconduct in 2010. The Article does not focus on one particular case it is focused on shedding light on many cases and prosecutorial misconduct that not only occurs here in the state of California but all over the country according to researchers of NCIP (Northern California Innocence Project). Between 1997 and 2010, the project found prosecutorial misconduct in more than 800 state and federal cases in California, and in 202 of them, the misconduct resulted in the setting aside of a conviction or sentence, a mistrial or a barring of evidence, the researchers found. In 614 of them, the misconduct didn't affect the fairness of the trial; the studies found in the more than 800 cases, 107 prosecutors committed misconduct. (cite) Unfortunately there are Prosecutors that cross the line and appear to not care because they probably don’t think they will get caught and that is wrong because they have people’s lives and futures in their hands. Some cases resulted in verdict reversals and the consequences for some attorneys was a slap on the wrist and were just cited for misconduct and others resulted suspension of license anywhere from 30days to four years. In the