Pros And Cons Of Public Defender

Michael Becker, a public defender in Orange County visited our class. Public defenders are people who defense for people who cannot afford to hire a lawyer. Public Defenders consider their clients as the most important thing, and they treat their clients with dignity and respect since most of their clients are on the margins of the society, and they are not treated with respect. Even though public defenders receive funding from the government, they do not represent the government. Orange county had public offenders for 70 years, which is longer than the federal public offenders with the history of 50 years. I could tell public defenders disliked the district attorneys by Michael’s description of district attorneys and the way he talks about
Public defenders don’t put values on money – they are mostly short on budget all the time – and they are the only ones who stand up for people who cannot afford, or whom no one wants to defend for. According to the United States Constitution sixth amendment, everyone has a right to have an attorney when they are arraigned in the court. Public defenders are the leading figures that follow the sixth amendment recognized by the government. But there is also a dilemma the public defenders would have to face. Michael Becker told us that it makes him feel more pressured when he knows the defendant is innocent, because if he loses the trial, he feels guilty for not being able to prove his innocence. However, If I were a public defender, the biggest dilemma I would have is to overcome the inner madness at the convict, particularly when the defendant shows no signs of regret; especially the case of psychopaths, who cannot sympathize with the victims and enjoy the agony of the victim or enjoy the murder itself. For example, Richard Ramirez, a serial killer with 20 victims, said after he was caught “I love to kill people. I love watching them die. I would shoot them in the head and they would wiggle and squirm all over the place, and then just stop. Or I would cut them with a knife and watch their faces turn real white. I love all that blood. I told one lady to give me all her money. She said no. So I cut her and pulled her eyes out.” If my client told me that, I would feel an urge to flip everything upside down. I cannot picture myself defending those horrendous criminals who trampled the victim’s rights