The Difficulties of the Poor Man Accused of Crime

Abstract

T HE administration of criminal justice is a field so large and with so many conflicting interests involved that it is difficult to secure a perspective from which persons with varying points of view can speak of the subject as a common one. The police officer engaged in the apprehension of criminals and the collection of evidence, the attorney representing the defendant, the public prosecutor, who takes the grist as it is prepared for him by the police and who prosecutes the case, and the social worker, who is concerned with the problem of the family from which the accused person comes, each has an entirely different point of view. It is unfortunately the case that, when any particular phase of the administration of criminal justice is under discussion, each one of these various persons comes to the discussion with a bias in favor of his own interest, based upon his own experience, and, unfortunately, frequently without much inclination to consider the point of view of the others. Thus we find some honest people insisting that men accused of crime have too many advantages; while others, equally honest, insist that they are at a great disadvantage in their contact with the law. Here, as in most situations, neither contention is a complete truth, and, as applied to individuals, either may be absolutely true or absolutely untrue. Much depends upon the character of the man accused, the crime charged against him, the nature of the assistance he is able to muster, and the stage of the proceedings to which reference is made. It will aid us in clear thinking about this problem and perhaps make it possible for well intentioned people to get together on some program of improvement, if we can arrive at some common premises for our thinking. Those who speak of the accused man as one unduly favored, with a bulwark of rights and privileges built up about him which almost defy successful prosecution, usually think in terms of the formal guarantees which hedge about the defendant during his trial in the higher criminal courts, the courts of record. Here we find the well