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Criminal Defense Essay

729 Words3 Pages

Introduction When an individual is given a court date for a public hearing, both the defense and the opposition are given chances to argue for or against the accused. The person in the position of defense can hire a qualified lawyer to argue on their behalf, and they would do so using different types of criminal defenses. Criminal defenses exist in a plethora of strategies and purposes to be used in a trial and heard by the judge and the jury. Attorneys and legal counsels use different categories of defenses to suit the specific cases and obtain the desired outcome. Fighting the charges brought against an individual can be done in numerous ways, and each can be very helpful to the defense.
Common Criminal Defenses
Numerous defenses exist for …show more content…

Criminal defenses can exonerate the accused and reduce the severity of the given sentence. Several categories of defenses exist and can be sorted between failure of proof, affirmative, imperfect, or perfect. If the prosecution cannot present adequate evidence to prove every element of the offense, beyond a reasonable doubt, the defendant will be acquitted; failure of proof, or denial of proof, can also be used if the defense attorney denies that a criminal element exists (Criminal Defenses 2015). Affirmative defenses are not based on the prosecution’s burden of proof. When an affirmative defense is used, the defendant brings a new issue which then needs to be addressed and proven. If the charges of the case are not dropped but the severity of the sentence has been lessened, then the defense is considered to be imperfect. A perfect defense occurs when all charges brought against the individual are dropped, and they are acquitted (Criminal Defenses 2015). Some basic claims are commonly used as defenses in criminal court cases and are used in hopes of avoiding a punishment, or at least lowering the stringency of the sentence. The defense can argue that the offender did not understand the implications of their actions, meaning they did not know the …show more content…

One example of this assertion being used could be seen if the offender had been accused of larceny, but they believed that the victim had given him the property (Justia Law 2022). This view can also be applied if the defense was intoxicated, and could not understand what they were doing. Secondly, if the individual was being harassed by someone with a knife and they killed the man, it could be argued that their crime was justified out of self-defense. Lastly, the victim could have given the offender consent to a sexual behavior, so the accusation of rape is irrelevant because of the factor of consent (Exum Law Offices

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