Should Lawyers Defend Guilty Clients

381 Words2 Pages
America’s law is built around the idea that citizens cannot be declared guilty unless it’s proven. Benjamin Franklin once said, “It is better one hundred guilty persons should escape than that one innocent man should suffer.” In order to achieve this nobility that the founding fathers believed in, we need honesty. This includes honest evidence, honest witnesses, and most importantly, honest lawyers. Since the founders of our country wanted to be fair to the accused, they created the seventh amendment. It states that everyone has a right to trial by the jury and the accused also has a right to hire a lawyer. This is where the role of the defense-attorney comes in. The accused’s future depends on their attorney’s ability to defend them. But what happens when the attorney suspects their client to be guilty? Should he still present the case? He is left with two options: he can either withdraw from the case or defend his client in front of the court. He can’t deliberately try to lose the case because he can lose his license and even go to jail. Now you may be thinking, the choice is obvious. He should just withdraw from the case because it’s not ethical to defend someone who is guilty. But if the answer is so obvious, why are there some lawyers out there who defend guilty clients? The majority of them do it because they feel sympathy for their client. An attorney’s job isn’t just to prove the innocence of his client. His job is also to defend. If the attorney believes that the circumstances under which the crime was committed weren’t fair, then he’ll fight the case because he can help his client get a plea bargain. A plea bargain is when the defendant pleads guilty to a lesser charge. Cases like these include hungry men stealing or helpless victims fighting back. Is it wrong to help a starving man or a defenseless victim? The truth is that every case is unique.
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