Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Spring 1995
Abstract
A position of Federal Defender General should be created to enhance the public image of public defenders. Currently the adversarial system tends to favor prosecutors, making it hard for criminal defendants to obtain a fair trial. Semiotic theory shows how the criminal justice system reflects broader social discourse concerning crime. The defendants' rights are given symbolic representation but are not considered seriously. Criminals are set apart from the rest of society and regarded as undeserving of truly fair representation. The trial can be seen as an allegory demonstrating the guilt of the defendant.
Recommended Citation
Kenneth B. Nunn, The Trial as Text: Allegory, Myth and Symbol in the Adversarial Criminal Process - A Critique of the Role of the Public Defender and a Proposal for Reform, 32 Am. Crim. L. Rev. 743 (1995), available at http://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/facultypub/761/