In legal parlance, it is customary for attorneys to refer to themselves as "criminal defense attorneys" when they focus their practice on representing clients who have been arrested and or charged with a crime. Even prospective clients unwittingly use the phrase "criminal defense attorney" when searching for an attorney to represent them after they've been arrested. Unfortunately, this phraseology is self-defeating; and, it subconsciously signals to others, including the prosecutor and the judge, that the arrestee is actually a criminal, guilty from the outset.
The subconscious misbelief in the arrestee's guilt [on the part of the defense attorney, the prosecutor, and or the judge] ultimately works to undermine the constitutional protections purportedly afforded to the arrestee and it leads to injustice in the following forms: 1) denial of bail or the setting of excessive bail pretrial; 2) denial of access to exculpatory discovery or the withholding of exculpatory and or impeaching discovery by the prosecution; 3) denial of defense counsel's legitimate request(s) for a continuance or more time to prepare for trial; 4) forced or coerced erroneous guilty pleas; and, 5) hurried or unnecessarily rushed judicial proceedings (i.e. jury selection, jury trial, and jury deliberations).
When a person has been arrested and or charged with a crime, they are merely the accused, not a criminal; and, the attorney representing them is defending the accused, not defending a criminal. As a matter of law, the person under arrest is innocent until proven guilty; and, defense attorneys should not say or do anything to compromise that favorable presumption in or around the courthouse.
Words are powerful so use them carefully and artfully throughout the representation of your clients and remember, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
