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The Defense Attorney's Role In The Criminal Justice System

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The Defense Attorney's Role In The Criminal Justice System
Victims and Crime Evaluation
By Dechelle Clay
CJA/354
Kristen Mildenberger
December 23, 2013

There are many roles in the courtroom that each person plays and each role has its benefit for the criminal justice system as a whole. It is understandable that each role plays a part in the sentencing with the hope that justice is being served but with much intentions and seen all too well that everyone is not satisfied with the sentencing phase and may feel that justice has not been served and some may feel that it has. In the courtroom the roles of each person happens to be a part of case and the prosecutor, defense attorney, criminal, and victim all play a role. There are others that are a part of the role …show more content…
In all cases when it comes to sentencing the defense attorney looks for the best interest for the criminal and without failure if it means that the criminal agrees to a plea from the prosecutor and if it is the best interest for the criminal the defense attorney is more than willing to cooperate with the …show more content…
Once the criminal is found guilty and sometimes will be asked to speak and they may ask forgiveness to the victim and family members of victims but they probably will not change the sentence for the criminal no matter how much compassion that they show. The criminal usually hope for alternative sanctions when they see that they be found guilty and will be willing to take a sentence of 20 years with possible parole than a sentence that gives them life without the possibility of parole. It all depends on the prosecutor, defense attorney, and the evidence that will determine the sentence for the criminal. The victim with any case just want justice to be served and may have to go through counseling in order to get their own life back together, they in turn want the max sentence for the criminal and see no alternative sanction for the criminal. They may believe that if the criminal is sentenced to the max then they will never be able to hurt or bring harm to anyone else and they are looking for the role of the prosecutor to make it be a known fact of their grief, pain, and there suffering after the criminal has done all that they could to destroy them, the victim is very emotional and whenever the sentence is not what they want for the victim they feel
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