The Akron Legal News

Login | March 29, 2024

Prosecution and procedure: The other side of justice — prosecutors

DAVID J. ROBINSON
Law Bulletin columnist

Published: October 16, 2017

In 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice established the Office of Access to Justice to address what its website describes as the “access-to-justice crisis in the criminal and civil justice system.”

The idea is, as DOJ describes it, to assist the justice system in efficiently delivering “outcomes that are fair and accessible to all, irrespective of wealth and status.”

In the criminal law context, organizations like the Innocence Project and Exoneration Project focus their attention on the subject of criminal convictions, the defendant.

In that way, they impact our system of criminal justice for that individual, as well as the system itself, collaterally. These organizations identify and represent the exception to rule — that is, the rare individual who has been wrongfully convicted — and provide much-needed assistance where resources are otherwise scarce.

In short, they provide “access” to the criminal justice system for individuals who might not otherwise be able to afford the resources it takes to find answers.

This is important work, no doubt, but it often overshadows the organization of lawyers which provides the most access to the largest number of indigent consumers of the criminal justice system, crime victims.

Every day in courtrooms throughout Illinois, prosecutors are providing access to justice for these crime victims. Prosecutors pursue cases without regard to the resources of the victim and do so through an open-access policy.

Indeed, crime victims in Illinois — regardless of ability to pay — are provided a number of constitutional and statutory protections, including:

The right to be treated with fairness and respect for their dignity and privacy.

The right to communicate with the prosecution.

The right to be heard.

The right to be reasonably protected.

The right to be present at hearings.

The right to restitution.

When we think about “access to justice” in the criminal context, as lawyers, we often think about indigent individuals who are suspected of or charged with a crime.

That is likely because the U.S. and Illinois Constitutions codify the inalienable right to liberty, which reminds us as lawyers that we ought to pay close attention to the process we use when we seek to deprive a person of that inalienable right.

We should not, however, overlook the tens of thousands of Illinois residents (of all races, religions, financial means and immigration status) who are served — without a fee for access — by the prosecutors, court personnel and victim advocates of this state.

Overlooking those individuals who provide the most access to the most indigent consumers in the criminal justice system ignores the truth about access to justice in Illinois.

The truth is that public defenders, private organizations, prosecutors and the courts all work together to provide access to justice in Illinois criminal courts — and that’s the way it should be.


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