I am currently en route to obtaining a career in law. Not just any career. I plan on becoming a criminal defense attorney. Whenever I tell people this, they always ask the question: How can you defend someone that you know is guilty?

This is an experience that most criminal defense attorneys can relate to. People assume that just because you represent the defense, you are representing the guilty. Being that I’m snowed in my house (Midwest weather) and I am patiently waiting for the Seahawks to beat the Patriots, let’s explore this question and maybe some folks can pick up a little knowledge before the big game.

First off, it is essential to understand what makes someone “guilty” in the presence of law. As President Barack Obama has stated over and over, “We are a nation of laws.” What exactly is law? Law is a body of rules or customs, made and agreed upon by a society, that prohibits certain acts or mandate for certain acts to take place within different contexts.  When these acts are committed or omitted, then it becomes a crime. For example, the commission of hitting someone with a car is generally illegal in the United States of America and the omission to stop at a stop sign is generally illegal in the United States.  In order to prove someone is guilty, the job of the prosecutor is to prove that an act is illegal and prove that the person, in question, committed that act.

Second, the job of the Criminal Defense Attorney is not to prove that a suspect is innocent. When someone is accused of a crime, they are given certain rights via the Constitution. The constitution allows for suspects to be protected from self-incrimination, to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, a right to a fair trial, and many other protections. (It can be argued that these protections are not severely followed in today’s court system.) It is the job of the Criminal Defense Attorney to confirm that these protections are followed. In the rare occasion that trial transpires, it is job of the prosecutor to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the suspect is guilty. The job of the Criminal Defense Attorney is to explore any reasonable doubts that may exist within a prosecutor’s argument. If the prosecutor is successful, the defendant will receive a verdict of “guilty.” If the Criminal Defense Attorney is successful, the defendant will receive a verdict of “not-guilty” (not a verdict of “innocent”). This simply means that the suspect did not commit the crime in question.

Lastly, the prosecutor does not always prosecute the guilty. At this point, it is important to note that the prosecutor is the most powerful agent of law enforcement in the United States of America. The prosecutor not only gets to enforce the law, the prosecutor gets to choose who to enforce the law against. Most of the time, prosecutors get it right and the person, in question, did in fact commit the crimes they are accused of. However, too many times people who are potentially innocent get convicted for fear of a harsher sentence (90 percent of cases end in plea deals) due to the fact that prosecutors receive a guilty verdict for over 60 percent of the cases they take to trial.  If many people who are convicted of crimes are innocent, it is logically sound to follow that many people who are accused of crimes are innocent as well.

In essence, I am going to defend people who I “know” are guilty due to the fact that I don’t know they are guilty. As explained, prosecutors are not always prosecuting people who are guilty. In addition, my job will not be to prove that a suspect is innocent; my job will be to hold the prosecutor accountable of his allegations. As an aside, it is important to note that we live in a society that tends to criminalize the most vulnerable aspects of human life (the poor, the minorities, the youth). Having said that, even though a defendant is guilty, that does not make him or her worthy of the Prison Industrial Complex.

Have fun with the Super bowl game. GO SEAHAWKS!!