Attonery Ethics

Description

When we discuss ethics and ethical dilemmas in criminal justice what usually comes to mind is law enforcement officers and the picture is usually bleak. But what role do attorneys play? And what are their ethical issues? How about judges? We will explore some issues with both sides of the criminal justice legal players, state attorneys, defense attorneys, and judges. Both sides have varying degrees of ethical issues, some are apparent, and some go unnoticed. This week’s activity is dealing with attorneys in the criminal justice system. You will complete three short activities related to these topics; the instructions are as follows: You are a judge, decide this case. You are a judge who believes that individuals should be allowed to choose when to die. You personally had to watch both of your parents die long agonizing deaths because your state does not have a right-to-die statute. Before you is a doctor who is being prosecuted for giving a lethal dose of morphine to a patient dying of terminal cancer. The family of the patient did not want the prosecution of the doctor, but the prosecutor believes that if there is a law in place, it should be enforced. The doctor has opted for a bench trial (no jury, just the state, defense, and the judge to decide the outcome). What would you do as the judge upon deciding this case? (Be specific, detailed, and remember the ethical responsibilities of each player). Defense attorney’s dilemma. you are completing an internship at a defense attorney’s office during your senior year in college. After graduation, you plan to enter law school and pursue a career as an attorney, although you have not yet decided what type of law to practice. Your duties as an intern are to assist the private practitioner you work for in a variety of tasks, including interviewing clients and witnesses, organizing case files, running errands, and photocopying. A case that you are helping with involves a defendant charged with armed robbery. One day while you are at the office alone, the defendant comes in and gives you a package for the attorney. In it you find a gun. Youi believe, but do not know for a fact, that the gun is the one used in the armed robbery. When the attorney returns, he instructs you to return the package to the defendant. What should you do? What should the defense attorney do? (Be detailed). How would you decide? A prosecutor was working with police in a standoff between a triple murderer and police. When the murderer demanded to talk to a public defender, the police did not want to have a public defender get involved, so the prosecutor pretended to be one. The prosecutor spoke with the suspect on the telephone and lied about his name and being a public defender, the man then surrendered to police. The prosecutor was sanctioned by the state bar for misrepresentation and was put on probation and required to take twenty hours of continuing legal education in ethics, pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination, and be supervised by another attorney. Do you think the prosecutor did the right thing? Why or why not? Each section will be worth five (5) points and will be graded based on how the question is answered. I am looking for complete and thorough responses, in other words, a one sentence response might get 0 – 1 point, and so forth. I am looking for critical thinking and analyses. Do not forget to include your sources listed in APA format. It should look as follows: References: Lippman, M. (2019). Contemporary Criminal Law. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.