Guide to Finding Criminal Justice Lawyer

Technically, the term criminal justice lawyer refers to any lawyer involved in the legal process. The term can refer to a lawyer involved in prosecution who represents the plaintiff or a lawyer who is involved with the defense and represents the defendant. More often than not, the term criminal justice lawyer is synonymous with criminal defense lawyer. The defense lawyer can either work for a private firm, own their own firm or practice alone, or engage as a public defender. These types of lawyers are provided to a suspected criminal under the constitution, and the suspected criminal can either choose to use the public defender, choose to represent themselves, or hire a private attorney. There are also defense lawyers who specialize in certain cases, but others choose to represent a wide array of defense cases and individuals.

Where to look for a Criminal Justice Lawyer

If you are charged with a crime, you either given a public defender or you can hire a private defense lawyer. Depending on the severity of the crime, you may choose to represent yourself or hire a private criminal justice lawyer. For example, if you receive a speeding ticket, it’s almost completely unnecessary to hire a private attorney to represent you in the courtroom. Yet, if you are charged with a severe crime like assault or a degree of murder (even if the crime was in self defense), you almost always have to hire a private attorney. If the crime is severe, a public defender can almost never compile a strong enough case to acquit the person of the charges. However, hiring a renowned lawyer with specialization in defense and a particular crime can reduce and remove the most severe charges from time to time.

What to look for in a criminal justice lawyer

The job of a criminal justice lawyer is sometimes regarded as the toughest job in law. Regardless of the charge upon their defendant, a defense lawyer must put aside all private and personal thoughts and represent the suspected criminal at the best of their ability. The defense lawyer must have the ability to construct an argument and weave the argument in their favor by speaking in front of the jury (most of the time), judge, and public courtroom if the case develops attention from the media and family members. The criminal justice lawyer must showcase the ability to work with the prosecution as well. If they choose, the defense attorney can often work out a plea bargain with the prosecution. Yet, if the case is severe enough and the defense has a small chance of winning the case, the defense lawyer should have the ability to draft and argue sentencing recommendations.

The job of a defense lawyer is demanding, and their job extends to working with other people to help the case as well. A defense lawyer will often hire an outside investigator obtain crucial information, facts, and witnesses that could help the case. They must also mandate that the constitutional rights of their defendant are protected during the action of the case.

One last aspect you should look for in your lawyer is if they centered on a particular defense in law school. Often, a good defense lawyer will practice defense on particular case studies and papers they centered on in law school.

Types of Defense

Depending on the severity of the crime, there are a number of defense strategies you should discuss with your lawyer. If the crime is minor, your criminal justice lawyer may be able to reduce the crime or drop the charge if you offer to enter rehabilitation, perform community service, or agree to go on probation. Other plea bargains can be enacted, but plea bargains become less and less applicable as the severity of the crime increases.

The first attempt to dissuade the jury of the charges is to prove the prosecutor’s facts false. For example, the prosecution might say the defendant was at a certain place at a certain time, but the defense may be able to prove otherwise. An alibi is often needed in a situation to disprove the prosecution, and these types of defenses are sometimes called affirmative defenses.

If the charge is severe, such as murder, the defense may be able to plead insanity. This type of defense has been popularized, but the strategy is still tried by numerous levels of court. For example, the criminal justice lawyer defending the army intelligence individual who reportedly gave files to WikiLeaks argued that the individual had a double personality and gender confusion disorder. This is just one example of a defense pleading for insanity.

Abandonment and withdrawal is yet another defense strategy. The criminal justice lawyer may argue that an individual did in fact plan to be an accomplice for a crime but then backed out at the last minute. This defense strategy is usually ineffective if the defendant failed to notify police or taken similar measures to stop the crime before it took place.

There are other forms of defense that most individuals are aware of. These types of defense might include self defense. Self defense determines that an individual needed to use force to stop someone from hurting them or even a family member. If the self defense happens to be a result of protecting someone else, the act may be described as coercion and duress. The defense of consent concludes that that the victim gave consent to the defendant to initiate a certain action.

Last if not least, a criminal justice lawyer may argue that the crimes being tried against the defendant occurred before the time period allowed within the statute of limitations cause. These laws vary from state to state, so it’s essential that a criminal justice lawyer do the proper research surrounding this strategy of defense.