Role of defence lawyer in criminal proceeding

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am feeling highly elated to work on the topic “role of a defence lawyer in criminal proceeding”. I am very grateful to him   for his exemplary guidance. I would like to enlighten my readers regarding this topic and I hope I have tried my best to pave the way for bringing more luminosity to this topic.

I also want to thank all of my friends, without whose cooperation this project was not possible. Apart from all these, I want to give special thanks to the librarian of my university who made every relevant materials regarding to my topic available to me at the time of my busy research work and gave me assistance. And at last I am very much obliged to the God who provided me the potential for the rigorous research work.

At  finally  yet  importantly  I  would  like  to  thank  my  parents  for  the  financial  support.

Research  Methodology

Aims and objective

The aim of the project is to understand the role of criminal defense lawyer. In doing so the secondary aim is to analyze the sections of CrPc and constitution of India that deals with the issue separately and bring out the  finger points to be considered while applying while these sections with the help of theory principles and case laws on the point.

Scope and limitation

The scope of the project is limited to analyzing the role of defense lawyer along with relevant case laws scope of project is itself limited to comparative study of defense lawyer depending upon the accused right to defend himself and is mostly limited to Indian cases.

Research questions

The research questions are mainly to what extent do you believe modern criminal defense attorneys should go to defend their clients?

Chapterization

The project is divided into chapters for better clarity and flow. Following the introduction is a brief chapter on our justice system and defense lawyer. After that the researcher has covered role and responsibility of defense Lawyer then its critical appraisal. Finally these chapters are followed by a conclusion which summaries the project and clarifies certain points.

Methodology

The method of writing adopted is both descriptive and analytical. 

Source of data

For this paper, the researcher has relied upon secondary source of data i.e. books, Articles and internet websites.

Mode of citation   A uniform mode of citation is followed through out the paper.

TABLE  OF  CONTENT                  

1) INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………6-7

2) WHAT IS CRIMINAL DEFENCE LAWYER……………………………………………...7-8

                                   a) definition ………………………………………………………………..7          

                                   b)  provisions of Crpc……………………………………………………...8

3)ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITY OF DEFENCE LAWYER……………………………….9-19

                                     a) functions of defence lawyer……………………………………….10-16

                                      b) defence counsel – a discussion…………………………………...17-19

4) JUSTIFICATION AND CRITICAL APPRAISAL……………………………………….19-20

                                      a) changing role of criminal defence lawyer……………………………20

5)CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................21

6)BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................................................................................................22

List of cases

i) khatri-ii v. state of Bihar.

ii) suk Das v. state of Arunachal Pradesh.

iii) Hussainara Khatoon v. Home Secretary, State of Bihar.

iv)  State of Madhya Pradesh v. Shobharam and Ors.

v) D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal.

INTRODUCTION

No man should be condemned unheard.

Justice is neither to be denied nor delayed

While the general purpose of criminal procedure is to provide a mechanism for the administration of criminal law, its core object is “to ensure for the accused a full and fair trial in accordance with the principles of natural justice”. Therefore trial procedure is a very pivotal part of any criminal procedure. The criminal justice system is viewed as a three-part system consisting of the judge and jury, the prosecutor, and the defense lawyer. Each part of this system has a specific role. The role of the judge and jury is to render an impartial decision based solely on the facts presented and the laws applicable to the charged offense. In order to decide impartially, the judge and jury must be able to hear arguments from both sides. The prosecutor's role is to argue the side of the state that seeks to prove the defendant's guilt. The defense lawyer's role is to argue on behalf of the defendant. The defendant has no burden of proof. That is, the defendant need not prove his innocence. It is enough simply to point out ways in which the state has not established guilt.

In my project I have tried to explain the position of a defense lawyer in relation to that of a prosecution by going through case-laws and judicial pronouncements. Our Project is divided in parts. The First part deals with the background of a defense lawyer. The second part deals with role, responsibility and functions of a defense lawyer. The third part deals with arguments for and against of a defense lawyer by framing out some questionnaires and their answers. The Last part is a synthesis of the arguments advanced in the conclusion & suggestions.

The questionnaires which I have dealt in my project are followings :

i) What is the role of criminal defense lawyer?

ii) What degree need to be a criminal defense attorney?

iii) What is the difference between a criminal defense lawyer and a criminal prosecutor?

iv) What you can do if you are unsatisfied with your criminal defense lawyer attempt to defend you?

v) Do defense lawyer specifically help criminals or innocent people?

vi) To what extent modern defense criminal lawyer should go to defend  their clients?

vii) Why would a criminal lawyer/attorney defend a rapist or terrorist?

WHAT IS CRIMINAL DEFENCE LAWYER?

A defense attorney is a lawyer representing the defendant in a criminal trial. Most defense attorneys specialize in criminal defense, and some further narrow their practice to specific types of criminal defense. A defense attorney can work as part of a large or small law firm, or a private practice. Like all attorneys, a defense attorney is a highly educated professional and a member of the state bar.

A criminal defense lawyer is hired to defend both individuals and corporations, called defendants in legal settings, who have been arrested as suspects for unlawful activities. This type of lawyer may also be known as a defense attorney or simply as a criminal lawyer. In the United States, they are responsible for representing those who have been accused of criminal activities in court, where a judge and jury will then decide if the defendant is either guilty or innocent.

Criminal defense lawyers have a deep knowledge about the law and how the court system works. They have attended law school, and usually have several years of experience. A criminal defense lawyer can either be hired by a defendant or appointed by the court if the defendant cannot afford an attorney on his or her own.

A criminal defense lawyer works with the defendant to develop the best way to minimize the consequences of any unlawful activity the client may have been involved in. If the client is innocent, it is the job of the criminal defense lawyer to prove that. . A criminal defense lawyer may also help to customize a sentence for the defendant that will help to keep them out of future trouble -- most often the case in juvenile or family court cases. A good criminal defense lawyer knows the ins and outs of the local court circuit. He or she should know which tactics work for which judges when trying to reduce sentences or even get the case thrown out. A defense lawyer also knows who has the power to settle cases outside of the courtroom. Defense attorneys know how to find little-known laws that can help their client, and are able to use any lawful means necessary to prove their client innocent, or at least less guilty of the crimes the client is being charged with.

The lawyer may work on a local level, only taking low-profile cases seen in town, city, or small county court rooms. Some lawyers may work on larger regional or state cases. Top lawyers may work federal court cases. There are also international criminal defense lawyers, responsible for working on extradition and illegal immigration cases. Other international cases may include international crime circles or internet-based criminal activities.

Provisions of CRPC

The adversary system of criminal trial, which we have adopted, states that the state using its investigate resources and employing a competent prosecutor to prosecute the accused, will employ an equally competent defense counsel to challenge the prosecution.[1] Therefore, both the constitution of India and the code of criminal procedure on the accused a right to consult and to be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice.[2] The accused’s right to have a lawyer f his choice is also a constitutional right under Article 22. Section 303 provides that after initiating any proceeding against the accused, the accused should be defended by a lawyer of his choice. On the other hand S.304 requires the court under certain circumstances to arrange lawyer for his defense at the state’s expenses.[3] Article 39-A also provides free legal aid ,because as per this directive principles this is the duty of the state to provide free legal aid. The supreme court in case of SUKH DEV v. STATE OF ARUNACHAL PRADESH, held that conviction of the accused in a trial in which he was not provided any defense lawyer would be set aside as being violative of Article 21 of the constitution. Similarly, in D.K. Basu v. State of W.B., certain guide lines have been given which has been included in the Croc. Section 41(A) to 41(D) has been inserted by the recommendation of Mali math Committee.

*whenever any police officer is going to arrest and interrogate any person, he must bear accurate, visible & real identification.

*The particulars of all the arrested persons and the police officers who made the arrest must be maintained in a register.

*The police officer is required to prepare a memo, signed by the police officer who made the arrest and any family member of the accused.

*After the arrest, a routine medical checkup after every interval of 48 hours to find out any injury on the part of the arrested person. It helps as an evidence to stop the custodial violence by a police officer. Supreme Court further said that if there is any violation of these guidelines a  departmental proceeding will be initiated and it will amount to contempt of court.

ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITY OF DEFENCE LAWYER

A criminal lawyer is one who is expertise in handling different types of case and law related to crime. The ultimate task of this law person is to offer its services to the people who are been charged under the crime act and sue the accused for such crime. On the other hand, the basic idea of using the services of qualified law person is to get a lawyer for ourselves whose work is to fight for us and to achieve success in the courtroom. As it is a known fact that there are many sections included in the criminal law there are various categories too which are involved in criminal lawyers. The selection of law person is based upon the category of the crime and the issue under which the person has been charged for committing the crime. Thus to help you in finding out the best criminal lawyer, it is very essential for you to know various sections and categories involved in the crime.

Those individuals who are charged for committing crime such has abduction, murder, hit and run, sex violence, theft, rape, and domestic violence and other such type of crime will be looking for the person who is experienced in dealing such cases in court. A criminal defense lawyer is one such person who will offer its service to those people that are charged under these kinds of crimes. Such qualified persons will first start off their services by having a conversation with the accused party. From such communication they will try to investigate on various points and will come to know the exact details of the event. These law protecting people are always high in demand as for the reason they are the one who fight for the justice on behalf of accused.

A defense attorney is a lawyer representing the defendant in a criminal trial. Most defense attorneys specialize in criminal defense, and some further narrow their practice to specific types of criminal defense. A defense attorney can work as part of a large or small law firm, or a private practice. Like all attorneys, a defense attorney is a highly educated professional and a member of the state bar.

The defense attorney's purpose is to represent his client's best interests. The responsibilities this might include range from gathering evidence and presenting it in court, to negotiating bail, to managing media attention through press releases or conferences, to plea bargaining. Ideally, the defense attorney gets the client acquitted or has the charges against her dropped, but this is simply not realistic in the majority of criminal cases.

If a case advances to a trial, the most important goal of the defense attorney is to create a reasonable doubt in the minds of the jurors. This can be done in a variety of ways, from the introduction of exculpatory evidence, to the discrediting of adverse witnesses. The defense attorney is not limited in the sorts of tactics, as long as they are ethical and legal, that he can undertake to convince a jury that his client might not be guilty. the defense attorney himself should  appear credible and professional in a criminal case and  should not be underestimated. Not only does he need to be skilled in criminal pleadings, quickly and effectively draft motions, to examine evidence, and to request search warrants if necessary, interviewing clients, witnesses to the crime and the law enforcement officers who initiated the arrest.

Information given to a defense attorney by his client is generally confidential  but when there is national security interest at stake they would try to extract sensitive information’s from their clients and to disclose them.

The criminal justice system recognizes that in a criminal proceeding the state is asserting its ultimate authority over a single civilian; the defense carefully observes the use of this authority. Furthermore, different safeguards are in place to prevent abuse of the state's power.

• The state bears the highest burden of proof, and must show that a defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes he is charged with.
• No burden is placed on the defendant. That is, he need not present any evidence and he need not testify or give his own version of events. The state may not comment on the defendant's decision not to testify and the jury may not consider it in evaluating the case.
• Many procedures are in place related to the investigation and the arrest of the defendant to ensure all evidence is accurate and that the correct person is charged with a crime.
• Defendants possess civil rights to ensure they are treated fairly and given an opportunity to argue their case.

Safeguards, however, are useless without someone to guarantee or police them. This is the job of the defense lawyer.

• The defense lawyer presents all evidence to rebut the prosecutor's arguments and challenges all questionable assertions of facts by the prosecutor to ensure that the high burden of proof is met.
• The defense lawyer challenges procedural errors and may seek to have charges dismissed because of unreliable evidence or testimony.
• The defense lawyer informs the defendant of his rights and defends those rights to ensure they have not been violated.

The Defense Lawyer as the First Line of Defense for Defendant When Facing the State

It is important for a defendant to obtain the help of a defense lawyer as early as possible. There are many actions a defense lawyer can take to protect and aid a defendant in the early stages that may not be possible as the case progresses.

• The defense lawyer can inform the defendant of his rights at the outset (such as the right to remain silent) so that the defendant is aware of them and can benefit from them.
• The defense lawyer can seek the temporary release of the defendant through bail, allowing the defendant to better assist in the preparation of a defense.
• The defense lawyer can negotiate with the prosecutor to have charges reduced or even dropped.

In addition, the defense lawyer is able to counsel the defendant on different strategies and arguments that can be used in the case as well as the benefits and drawbacks for each one.

• The defense lawyer works with the defendant and other witnesses to understand the defendant's version of events and to determine an appropriate defense (e.g., alibi, self-defense, misidentification).
• The defense lawyer can provide advice on what plea to enter, whether to accept a plea agreement, whether to waive a jury trial, and whether the defendant should testify on his own behalf.
• The defense lawyer can determine which witnesses to call and how they should be examined.
• The defense lawyer can determine which potential jurors might be biased against the defendant and seek to remove them from the jury panel.

Important role and responsibilities of criminal attorney have been discussed below:

• Gathering information about the case is one of the major tasks performed by criminal defense lawyer. He gathers information from all witnesses present at the time when criminal act was carried out. He understands the case properly and puts forward its negative and positive aspects in front of clients. In some of the cases, he also sits with the prosecutor for reducing the charges faced by their clients to some extent.

• A criminal defense attorney looks after all aspects of a case. In some cases, he also hires investigators for collecting evidences and proving his clients innocent.

• Criminal lawyers play an important role of protecting an individual's rights.

• Defense attorney makes most of the court appearances for his clients which mean they need not to leave their important task for making an appearance in the court. Not only this, he keeps his clients up to date regarding what has happened in all those court appearances and that too on a regular basis.

• He makes his clients aware of the possible punishments for their crimes. Moreover, He also explains his methods and policies to help clients get a fair conviction.

• Criminal defense attorney deals with criminal charges like impaired driving, marijuana grow operations, driving while prohibited, dangerous driving, administrative driving prohibitions and all other driving offences, theft, fraud, shoplifting, communicating for the purpose of prostitution , assault such as spousal or domestic assault etc.

Thus, it becomes clear that the criminal lawyer plays an important role of defending his clients charged with any of the criminal offences. There are many lawyers who have been assisting clients in this regard. One can refer internet websites for finding out a reliable criminal attorney for a legalized defense in the court of law. Some of the criminal lawyers maintain their own dedicated websites to help clients in this regard. One can go through all these sites to form a sound decision regarding the selection of criminal lawyer.

PETITIONER:HUSSAINARA KHATOON & ORS.Vs.RESPONDENT: HOME SECRETARY, STATE OF BIHAR, GOVT. OF BIHAR, PATNA[4]

DATE OF JUDGMENT12/02/1979 BENCH: BHAGWATI, P.N. PATHAK, R.S. KOSHAL, .

CITATION:1979 AIR 1360 1979 SCR (3) 169 1980 SCC (1)

Administration of Justice-Pre-trial detention-Right of under-trial prisoner to have a speedy trial-Art. 21 of Constitution of India. Pre-trial release-Concept of-Determinative factors in grant of bail and release of under-trial prisoner on personal bond without monetary obligation explained.

[5]In their petition for the issue of a writ of habeas corpus the petitioners stated that a large number of men and women including children were in jails for years awaiting trial in courts of law and that the offences, even if proved, would not warrant punishment for more than a few months. Although sufficient opportunity was given, the State did not appear before the Court. Directing the release of the under trials on their executing a personal bond.

(Per Bhagwati & Koshal, JJ.)

1. A procedure which keeps large number of people behind bars without trial for long, cannot possibly be regarded as "reasonable, just or fair" so as to be in conformity with the requirement of Art. 21. It is necessary, therefore, that the law as enacted by the Legislature and as administered by the courts must radically change its approach to pre-trial detention and ensure `reasonable, just and fair' procedure which has a creative connotation after the decision of the Supreme Court in Menka Gandhi's case.  Speedy trial is of the essence of criminal justice and, therefore, delay in trial by itself constitutes denial of justice. Though speedy trial is not specifically enumerated as a fundamental right, it is implicit in the broad sweep and content of Art. 21. Speedy trial which means reasonably expeditious trial, is an integral part of the fundamental right to life and liberty enshrined in Art. 21, Art. 21 confers fundamental right on every person not to be deprived of his life or liberty except in accordance with the procedure prescribed by law and it is not enough to constitute compliance with the requirement of that Article that some semblance of a procedure should be prescribed by law, but that the procedure should be "reasonable, fair and just". If a person is deprived of his liberty under a procedure which is not "reasonable, fair or just", such deprivation would be violative of his fundamental right under Art. 21 and he would be entitled to enforce such fundamental right and secure his release. Any procedure prescribed by law for depriving a person of his liberty cannot be "reasonable, fair or just" unless that procedure ensures a speedy trial for determination of the guilt of such person.  Menka Gandhi v. Union of India,[6] [; referred to.

3. Expeditious trial and freedom from detention are part of human rights and basic freedoms. The judicial system which permits incarceration of men and women for long periods of time without trial is denying human rights to such under trials and withholding basic freedoms from them. Law has become for them an instrument of injustice and they are helpless and despairing victims of the callousness of the legal and judicial system. [173 C-E, F]

4. One reason why our legal and judicial system continually denies justice to the poor by keeping them for long years in pretrial detention is the highly unsatisfactory bail system, which suffers from a property oriented approach. It proceeds on the erroneous assumption that risk of monetary loss is the only deterrent against fleeing from justice. Even after its re-enactment, the Code of Criminal Procedure continues to adopt the same antiquated approach. Where an accused is to be released on his personal bond, it insists that the bond should contain a monetary obligation requiring the accused to pay a sum of money in case he fails to appear at the trial. Moreover, as if this were not sufficient deterrent to the poor, the courts mechanically and as a matter of course insist that the accused should produce sureties who will stand bail for him and these sureties must again establish their solvency to be able to pay the amount of bail in case the accused fails to appear to answer the charge. [174 E-G] This system of bails operates very harshly against the poor and it is only the non-poor who are able to take advantage of it by getting themselves released on bail. The poor find it difficult to furnish bail even without sureties because very often the amount of the bail fixed by the Court is so unrealistically excessive that in a majority of cases the poor are unable to satisfy the police or the Magistrate about their solvency for the amount of the bail and where the bail is with sureties, as is usually the case, it becomes an almost impossible task for the poor to find persons sufficiently solvent to stand as sureties. The result is that either they are fleeced by the police and revenue officials or by touts and professional sureties and sometimes they have even to incur debts for securing their release or, being unable to obtain release, they have to remain in jail until such time as the court is able to take up their cases for trial, leading to grave consequences, namely, (1) though presumed innocent, they are subjected to psychological and physical deprivations of jail life, (2) they are prevented from contributing to the preparation of their defense and (3) they lose their job, if they have one, and are deprived of an opportunity to work to support themselves and their family members with the result that the burden of their detention almost invariably falls heavily on the innocent members of the family.

PETITIONER: STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH Vs. RESPONDENT: SHOBHARAM AND ORS.

DATE OF JUDGMENT: 22/04/1966

BENCH:

ACT: Madhyabharat Panchayat Act[7], s. 63-If violates Art. 22 of the Constitution.

Constitution of India, 1950, Art. 22(1)-Right of accused to be defended by counsel-If ensures in cases when accused cannot be sentenced to imprisonment. The respondents were arrested by the police for the offence of trespass and were released on bail. They were tried and sentenced to pay a fine by the Nyaya Panchayat, a court established under the Madhya Bharat Panchayat Act, 1949, with powers to impose only a sentence of fine. The conviction was set aside by the High Court on the ground that s. 63 of the Act, which provides that no legal practitioner  shall appear on behalf of any party in a proceeding before the Nyaya Panchayat, violated Art. 22(1) of the Constitution and was therefore void.

HELD:(Per Sarkar C.J., and Mudholkar, J.): The High Court was in error in setting aside the conviction.

Under Art. 22(1) a person arrested has the constitutional right to consult a legal practitioner concerning his arrest; and, a person who has been arrested as well as one who though not arrested runs the risk of loss of personal liberty as a result of a trial, have the constitutional right to be defended by an advocate of their

Choice. But in a trial under a law which does not provide for an order resulting in the loss of his personal liberty, he is not entitled to the constitutional right, because, the Article is concerned only with giving protection to personal liberty.  The Act does not give any power to deprive any one of his personal liberty either by way of arrest before the trial or by way of sentence of imprisonment as a result of the trial; nor does it deprive an arrested person of his constitutional right to take steps against the arrest or to defend himself at a trial which might occasion the loss of his personal liberty. The fact that the respondents were arrested under another statute, namely, the Criminal Procedure Code cannot make either the section or the Act void. therefore, hold that s. 63 of the Madhya Bharat Panchayat Act, 1949 is violative of Art. 22(1) and is void to the extent it denies any person who is arrested the right to be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice in any trial of the crime for which he is arrested. Most of the safeguards embodied in cls. (1) and (2) of Art. 22 are to be found in the Code of Criminal Procedure. But the Constitution makes the fundamental change that the rights guaranteed by clause (1) and (2) of Art. 22 are no longer at the mercy of the legislature. No legislature can enact a law which is repugnant to the

Constitution. A pre-Constitution law which is inconsistent with the provisions of Art. 22 is, to the extent of such inconsistency, void. The next question is whether the trial and convictions were illegal. During the trial, the respondents never claimed that they should be defended by counsel. Had they wanted the assistance of counsel, the Nyaya Panchayat might have under s. 79(c) returned the complaint for being filed before a magistrate[8]. They were happy and content to be tried before the Nyaya Panchayat without the assistance of counsel. There was no occasion for enforcing the provisions of s. 63 against them. Even if s. 63 were repealed or struck down before the trial, they would not have engaged any counsel for their defense. The existence of s. 63 on the statute book did not cause them any prejudice. In the circumstances, the High Court ought not to have quashed the trial and convictions. In the result, we declare that s. 63 of the Madhya Bharat Panchayat Act is violative of Art. 22(1) of the Constitution, and is void to the extent that it denies any person who is arrested, the right to be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice in any trial of the crime for which he is arrested. Subject to this declaration, the appeal is allowed, the order of the High Court is set aside and the convictions and sentences passed by the Nyaya Panchayat, Barwani are restored.

ORDER  -  In view of the majority, the Appeal is allowed, the judgment of the High Court is set aside and that of the Courts below is restored.

Defence counsel –a discussion

A: The role of a criminal defense attorney is to represent someone who is facing criminal charges and to sift through the law to defend their client and achieve justice.  They represent a person facing criminal charges and use the law to fairly defend their client.

A: To practice law in the courts of any State or other jurisdiction, a person must be licensed, or admitted to its bar, under rules established by the jurisdiction's highest court. All States require that applicants for admission to the bar pass a written bar examination; most States also require applicants to pass a separate written ethics examination. Lawyers who have been admitted to the bar in one State occasionally may be admitted to the bar in another without taking an examination if they meet the latter jurisdiction's standards of good moral character and a specified period of legal experience. In most cases, however, lawyers must pass the bar examination in each State in which they plan to practice. Federal courts and agencies set their own qualifications for those practicing before or in them. Some law students pursue joint degree programs, which usually require an additional semester or year of study. Joint degree programs are offered in a number of areas, including law and business administration or public administration. After graduation, lawyers must keep informed about legal and non legal developments that affect their practices. Currently, 40 States and jurisdictions mandate continuing legal education (CLE). Many law schools and State and local bar associations provide continuing education courses that help lawyers stay abreast of recent developments. Some States allow CLE credits to be obtained through participation in seminars on the Internet.

A: The attorney that will be appointed to or hired for the defendant is called a criminal defense attorney. Some criminal defense attorneys work for the government and are referred to as a public defenders . After being arrested and jailed or, in some cases, being summonsed to court without being jailed, the arresting officer(s) compose reports on the crime. These reports are forwarded to an attorney that works for the government. This would be the criminal prosecutor or deputy prosecutor, also known as the state. These people are responsible for obtaining and organizing further information and evidence in order to present it to the court, judge, and/or jury on behalf of the government or state. The prosecutor him/herself is usually an elected official with one to several attorneys working under his/her supervision (deputy prosecutors).

A: You have every right to put the proceedings on hold to retain new counsel.
If you are using a Public Pretender[9] than you have the right to excuse public counsel and request a replacement.
 

A: Public defenders don't get a choice; they're assigned their cases. Private lawyers can choose, but given the competition, they don't always have the luxury of turning down people who are genuinely guilty.
 

A: As an officer of the court, lawyers are required to stay within the limits of the law. Some lawyers try to reinvent where that limit is. Some of those get disbarred.

why would a criminal attorney defend a rapist or terrorist?

The "IDEALISTIC" answer is, that under system law - everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty - therefore he believes that he is defending an innocent person. Another perhaps more realistic answer is, a good criminal defense attorneys make a very good living and the more they successfully defend the more money they can charge their future clients.

Justification and critical appraisal

Defense lawyers are ethically bound to represent all clients even those they know are guilty. Here the concept of actual guilt and legal guilt is relevant. They aim to help the criminal just punishment for his crime. Morally the defender becomes accomplice in the criminal’s escape. The criminal justice system operates in a racist manner; criminal sentences are often savagely harsh; and conditions of imprisonment in many jurisdictions are inhuman. For these reasons, "A lawyer performs good work when he helps to prevent the imprisonment of the poor, the outcast, and minorities in shameful conditions". Here too, the argument, strong as it is, is open to doubt. It does not apply to prosperous white-collar criminals, racial-majority defendants, or those whose punishments are not excessively harsh. 

The system of criminal justice requires partisanship principle. The proseecutor will represent state’s case and so defense counsel has to concentrate forcefully as possible to defend the accused. So defense lawyer should not be make morally accountable for defending their clients. Another version of the argument focuses on liberal fear of the state. It seems too unfair to pit the might of the state against a solitary defendant, even a guilty one, without providing the defendant with a defense lawyer.

The other argument is that aggressive defender disciplines the prosecutor to make their job and thus protects the freedom of the innocent. One other version of this argument seems valid and uncontroversial, however. Prosecutors often charge defendants with multiple crimes, or choose the most serious among several possibilities. One crucial role the defender plays is that, when prosecutors press for the harshest sentence, the defender highlights facts that point toward leniency. For example manslaughter rather than murder. Without the defender, prosecutors have little incentive to be careful in their charging decisions and sentencing recommendations.

Lawyers  thus respond with several arguments about the justification of representing the guilty  person and, moreover, representing the guilty as vigorously as the innocent. Each of these arguments has force, but each is open to criticism

THE CHANGING ROLE OF CRIMINAL LAWYER

The role of the criminal defense lawyer is changing in the wake of a Supreme Court decision that is imposing new obligations on lawyers to advise clients about the consequences of criminal conviction. The supreme court judgement in march 2010 in padilla Kentucky[10] held to establish a task force to help criminal defense lawyer in understanding and meet new responsibilities towards their clients. New task force is needed because clients need more than good advice about the consequences of a guilty plea. Now criminal defense lawyer might help by broadening the scope of their representation beyond the criminal cases or, by collaborating with other professionals. Thus it gave the broader implication to the role of defense lawyer from lower level of consciousness to a higher level.

CONCLUSION

Till now we have in turn analyzed the principle behind the strong and inevitable role of criminal defense lawyer, which stems from the reluctance of modern criminal law maxims. the criminal defense lawyer are assigned by our justice system for a variety of tasks. They explain to their clients what is happening and make sure that all the clients are acknowledged of their rights provided by law and aware of what is happening. The defense counsel protects all those rights which are afforded to every citizen by law. The lawyer challenge the prosecution case, conduct and occasion and take over the prosecution case, call, examine any witness in court and makes every possible effort to minimize the damages to defendant.

We often take these protections for granted, or that do little but allow criminals to escape justice. It is easy, and often tends to dismiss defense lawyers (and, for that matter, all lawyers) whose only function is to confuse juries and confound courts. And sometimes, defending people who are clearly guilty, it may seem that defense lawyers are a needless extravagance. But just as crimes come in a variety of shapes and sizes, criminals are often indistinguishable from the ordinary citizen, in fact  some of us only come to realize when we find ourselves seated at the defendant's table, with fingers pointing at us. It is then that we realize just how critical a vigorous and independent defense bar is to a free society--allowing ordinary citizens to challenge the actions of their own government.

Defense lawyer is often misunderstood to make every one’s life difficult and his job as a safeguard against tyranny. In fact the defense lawyer’s role and job is very critical. Imagine what would happen if government decide whom to jail without their actions to test of law. Freedom of all of us will be in the hand of government bureaucrats-people. The law exists to safeguard our life and liberty but without the means and functionaries to challenge the actions of our own government, there will be a little protection for common citizens.

Among the first casualties of Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia was the independence of the courts and the legal profession. There was nothing to protect common people against the unbridled assertion of governmental power--no matter how misguided, petty, or malevolent it might prove to be. But it is the rare government that will attack its own citizens directly. Thus criminal defense lawyer has a prominent role to play in our criminal justice system.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS :

i) Chandrasekharan Pillai, R.V. Kelkar’s on Criminal Law, 4th Edition, Eastern Book Company.

ii) Dr. N.V. Paranjape, The Code of Criminal Procedure,2nd Edition, Central Law Agency, Allahabad.

iii) S.N.Misra, The Code of Criminal Procedure,14th Edition, Central Law Publication, Allahabad.

iv) Durga Das Basu, Criminal Procedure Code, 4th edition2010, Vol II, Lexisnexis ButterworthsWadhwa

v) Dr.M.D.Chaturvedy, Code Of Criminal Procedure, 1st edition, Allahabad Law Agency.

WEBSITES :

i) Indian Kanoon - http://indiankanoon.org/doc/857833/ 14

ii) www.google.com

iii) www.inrebus.com/legalmaxims

iv) www.lexisnexis.com

v) www.legalserviceindia.com

vi) www.lawyersclubindia.com

MISCELLANEOUS :

i) Indian penal code

ii) Indian Evidence Act, 1872