Intro To Crim Juctice Question Detail: Explain the confidentiality rules of defense attorneys and explain some situations where they may be able to disclose confidential informationList and discuss...

1. Explain the confidentiality rules of defense attorneys and explain some situations
where they may be able to disclose confidential information
Ans: The attorney-client confidentiality rule encourages clients to speak honestly and
in details to their defence attorneys, in order to seek legal advice. Some of the rules
are as below:
 Lawyer cannot reveal the information related to his client unless and until
directed by the client to do so
 Further, the lawyer can may only reveal information to the extent which is
deemed necessary
Following are the situation where the disclosure of information may seem necessary:
 To prevent substantial bodily harm or death
 To prevent the client from committing as crime that would surely cause
substantial injury to financial interests of another
 To establish a defence in the case of conflict between self and the client
 To comply with court orders and law
2. List and discuss the four types of office policy that influence prosecutors’
decision making according to discussion by Jacoby, Mellon, and Smith
Ans: According to discussion by Jacoby, Mellon, and Smith, following are the four types
of office policy that influence prosecutors’ decision making:
 Legal sufficiency: Kind of office policy that unearths those cases where the
evidences are not strong enough to support any future course of action
 System efficiency: An office policy with goals of accountability and efficiency,
decisions are made keeping these goals in mind resulting in dismissal of many
cases
 Defendant rehabilitation: Stresses rehabilitation such as diversion and other tools
apart from punitive goals
 Trial sufficiency: Office policy that encourages and highlights a charge that can be
substantiated through trial
3. Describe and discuss the major ethical issues for judges as presented in your text
Ans: From their very appearance, Judges are expected to be impartial, authoritative and
knowledgeable when it comes to making an unbiased judgement. However, following can
result into major ethical issues for judges:
 Issues related to elections: For instance, more than 87% of the judges depend on
campaign contributions to win elections. However, they should not accept money
from attorney who practises under them. As this can lead to biasness when the
judge hands out appointments to those attorney who gave money
 Besides larger corporations time and again fund judicial campaigns, expecting the
same judges to rescue them during the time when their cases comes in front of
them. Thus judges showing biasness based upon the campaign money received is
unethical
 Judges awarding cases to their friends not on the basis of the qualification but
reasons other than qualification. This is again unethical on the part of the judges
4. Discuss the various forms of forensic testimony and why they have been
criticized
 Hair analysis: It refers to the chemical analysis of hair sample. It is normally done
when both blood and urines are no longer expected to yield fair results
 Arson analysis revolves around experiences of investigators when it comes in
analysing the cases related to fire, and confessions of suspects
 Ballistics testing: Assumption that the bullet composition in single production
batch are similar
 DNA testing: It is based on the fact that no two individuals possess the same DNA
structure
 Fingerprint analysis: Based on the fact that no two individuals posses the same
fingerprints
 Bite mark comparison: Comparing the structure of the teeth of suspect with the
bite mark injury on the deceased
The issue with forensic analysis lies more in mismanagement and is believed to be
more than in nature of art than science. In majority of the cases these analysis run on
grave assumptions, thus the results are often not up to the mark.
5. Where do rules of behavior for attorneys come from, and how are they enforced?
Ans: Rules guiding the behaviour of attorneys are generally prescribed by the American
Bar Association or the ABA described in its publication “American Bar Association
Model Rules of Professional Conduct”. In its guidelines, the ABA has prescribed grounds
for discipline, sanctions imposed and deferred discipline. If the attorneys are found not
complying with these set of rules defined by the ABA, there are numerous sanctions
which can be imposed on them, with removal and suspension being the most serious of
them all. However, these sanctions can only be imposed by the highest court, and can
only be exercised when it is proved that through the misconduct or actions the respondent
has shown that he/she is not fit to hold judicial office.
6. Discuss the number of innocents who may be imprisoned. What are the sources
for the estimates? What are the criticisms of the sources?
Ans: According to the study (Poveda, 2001), an estimated number of wrongful
convictions ranged anywhere between 1 percent and 15 percent. Analysis made on inmate
reports signalled even higher figures. Even at the lowest range, number of innocent
people imprisoned is substantial, amounting to a whopping 2 million people who
incarcerated in prisons and jails. Some of the key reasons behind false convictions are as
below:
 Mistaken eyewitness testimony
 Perjury by informants
 Police and prosecutorial misconduct
 False confessions
 “Junk science”
 Ineffective assistance of counsel
 Racial bias
 Confirmatory bias
In majority of the cases, the critics have questioned by the viability of these numbers, and
often argued the fact that the numbers are more driven by human sentiments and belief on
what are being said by the offenders. Judgements are often made based upon a...