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How Can You Defend Those People: The Making of a Criminal Lawyer

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Kunen is a fascinating storyteller! This book was amazing... heartwarming, inspirational, and informative about what goes on "behind the scenes" as a public defender. This book cemented my desire to go to law school (I'm finishing up my 1L year now), but is a touching true narrative for any reader.

How Can You Defend Those People?, James S. Kunen

This book is an answer to those who don't understand our criminal justice system and the part of a defense attorney in defending the accused. Kunen worked at the Public Defender Service in the District of Columbia. The stories here are real, the details were changed to preserve client confidentiality. This 270 page book has no Table of Contents or Index. The `Notes' are legal citations. You should be surprised and shocked by the first case: an 18-year old girl was arrested while making a telephone call! Mistaken identity? Arrested for no reason at all? Law student Kunen signed up for the criminal clinic to get practical experience, and tells about the cases. What happens when a man collapses in front of a courtroom (p.11)?

Lawyer-client confidentiality takes precedence over the duty to reveal fraud (p.15). Fundamental rights are "inalienable", but governments often refuse to recognize them (p.27). The public prosecutor's duty is to seek justice, not merely to convict (p.36). Defense lawyers prevent the government from trashing the Constitution (p.37). Polygraph examinations are not allowed as evidence because they vary greatly in their accuracy (p.82). Could someone be arrested because of lies (pp.87-88)? "Misidentification is a common phenomenon" (p.89). "Rehearsing a witness is not only proper, but absolutely necessary to effective representation" (p.94). It can be useful to a lawyer to take the opposite view from what someone else says (p.134). Kunen explains the definition of insanity on page 155. It's the jury's decision. "It is impossible to devise a system which will result in all the innocent going free and all the guilty being punished" (p.157).

Can you be arrested if you only resemble a wanted suspect? Yes (p.174). ["Voir dire" means "see speak" (p.183).] How honest are the people in a trial? See page 188. Are all men created equal (p.197)? A man was shot in a public building. Later another man was arrested and questioned. He talked too much (p.209). It happened on an Air Force base so the military was responsible for prosecution. Was it self-defense (p.213)? Kunen explains his work. [This trial is the highlight of the book.] A defendant's claim of sanity can be proof on insanity (p.258). Kunen tells about the other cases. The `Afterword' says in Washington DC most of the guilty are convicted and nearly all of the innocent go free. The importance of this book is to explain what really happens in the justice system. "The only limit n the number of people in prison is the space available" (p.265). [Isn't that an interesting fact?] "The courts cannot reduce crime or establish justice."