Pursuit of "Justice"

You hear it over and over again, "justice must be served." Whether this is from the state prosecutor, a victim, or a police officer this is a common statement made in the criminal defense arena. The question is what is "justice." Surely "justice" isn't convicting a young man of murder and causing him to be sentenced to 40 years in prison. That is just what happened in the recent case of Ryan Ferguson.Click Here for the Today News Story .

The criminal justice system is far from perfect and innocent people are sent to prison more often than one would think. One of the many causes to such a tragedy is the determination of a state prosecutor to receive a conviction over "justice." Not all state prosecutors fall into this category, there are many state prosecutors out there who do seek "justice" and will swallow their pride to dismiss a case when "justice" calls for it. However, there are also many prosecutors office's that keep track of conviction rates. These offices aren't concerned with "justice", they are concerned with a conviction even if it is in lieu of "justice." The story of Ryan Ferguson is one of many stories of the wrong sort of "justice" being served. These cases are sickening and heart aching. All we can do as criminal defense attorneys is work our absolute hardest on each and every case to make sure "justice" is served.