Adversarial system of justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Adversarial system of justice - Essay Example Adversarial system of justice We can argue that Gideon V. Wainwright lost his case in 1963 because he lacked the funds to hire a lawyer to prepare his defense. This was after he requested the court to appoint a lawyer for him which the court refused. He defended himself in the trial and got convicted by a jury leading the court to sentence him to five years in a state prison (Fridell 69). It gets speculated that the state court’s lack of assigning Gideon a counsel violated his right to a fair trial. This clearly shows that this system is adversarial in name only. Question is, does a system that places value on winning encourage manipulation and deception? The clear answer to this indicates vividly if this system of justice is losing or gaining. This system is full of deception because the law gets highly manipulated to favor the side that can argue best. We are losing more because truth and justice do not play a role in its operation. Winning and losing is the main goal of the adversarial judicial system (McBride 94). It is a game of words where every side attempts to discredit the other’s witnesses and evidence. Lawyers get obligated to challenge the evidence against their clients even if it means impugning the police. They even attack a victim’s or witness’s character. Any judicial system should ensure justice. The adversarial judicial system is increasingly leading to injustice because lawyers bargain for less punishment or no punishment at all for even those that are guilty. This means that more and more people are suffering injustice with this system.