Criminal Law Prosecutors Perspective Research Paper

Criminal Law Prosecutors Perspective - Research Paper Example Accordingly, this brief essay will examine the moral and ethical ramifications, as well as unique perspectives, that the prosecuting attorney faces with relation to the many different cases that are brought before him/her. The fact of the matter is that the role of the prosecuting attorney is oftentimes equally ethically grey as that of the defense attorney. This is due to a number of reasons which will be detailed in the following analysis. Furthermore, the underlying motives of the prosecutor will be analyzed along with commonly held misconceptions regarding the nature of their work and the type of justice that they are tasked with upholding. Firstly, a prosecuting attorney is encouraged to obtain convictions; regardless of the level of guilt. This encourages a situation in which many individuals are punished for crimes they either did not commit or did not commit to the degree that the State is interested in punishing them for. Furthermore, the drive to obtain convictions oftentimes dulls the sense of justice that the State should ultimately be pursuing. As prosecuting attorneys are interested in increasing their overall conviction tally, they are oftentimes oblivious to the legality and/or legitimacy of the cases that they prosecute. A further complication of the role and perspective of a prosecutor is the fact that they are often encouraged to disregard the moral standard in which a certain crime is prescribed to be punished. What is meant by this is that the prosecuting attorney is intimately aware of the penalty for infraction of a given law; however, this penalty is not always upheld when it comes time to prosecute the crime (Silbert 1718). The reason for this can be any number of things from the fact that the criminal has agreed to cooperate with the prosecution, another party involved has chosen to inform the authorities as to the specific details and nature of