In the US Criminal Justice system, any offense committed is regarded as a disruption of public peace and a wrong against society as a whole even though an offense is committed to an individual (EDU, n.d). The Prosecutor’s office should not assist those being prosecuted. Firstly, this may lead to a concealed obstruction of justice (Bhardwaj, 2017). Assisting the accused may lead to a rogue prosecutor's office where the prosecutor may be bribed by highly influential people to conceal evidence against the accused, thereby obstructing justice by hiding valuable information that would have been critical to the justice system. This would contravene the state's laws that stipulate a fair trial for all, which would be compromised by such rogue activities.
Secondly, the prosecutor's office should not be responsible for helping the accused, which may lead to a conflict of interest in the prosecutor's office. With the prosecutor's principal mandate being to ensure justice is served, offering assistance to the accused may cloud the prosecutor's judgment on the entire case. They may offer lenient terms such as plea bargain, which may jeopardize the correct legal outcome (HG, n.d). In the case of plea bargain the prosecutor may force the accused to plead guilty to a lesser offense, which may result in an accused pleading guilty to a charge he was truly innocent of.
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Thirdly, the accused are legally allowed the right to an attorney or a defense counsel who is tasked with ensuring the accused receives an impartial trial (Cambridge University, 2019). Therefore, the prosecutor’s office should not be mandated in helping the accused as this may give the prosecutor’s office more control on the case where in the case of a plea bargain, they may take advantage of accepting criminal acts in very weak trials. This is evidenced when many people of color in the United States are incarcerated over flimsy offenses due to the prosecutor's immense control over the cases (TED,2016). Therefore, engaging of prosecutors with the accused may pose impartiality on cases.
References
Bhardwaj, R. (2017). A critical study of the role of prosecutor in criminal law. International Journal of Law , 3 (4). file:///C:/Users/USER/Downloads/3-3-57-887.pdf
Cambridge University. (2019). The role of the prosecutor . Cambridge University Press. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/core-concepts-in-criminal-law-and-criminal-justice/role-of-the-prosecutor
EDU. (n.d.). The role of the prosecutor | What's changing in prosecution?: Report of a workshop | The National Academies Press . The National Academies Press. https://www.nap.edu/read/10114/chapter/3
HG. (n.d.). What are the advantages and disadvantages of accepting a plea bargain? https://www.hg.org/legal-articles/what-are-the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-accepting-a-plea-bargain
TED. (2016, April 12). Prosecutor with dreads ted talk [Video]. YouTube. https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-itm-001&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=itm&p=Prosecutor+with+dreads+ted+talk#id=51&vid=eb68f18046ad9164934a9bc614a4a18c&action
