On job satisfaction and the public defense.

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For the past couple weeks I've been considering what kind of personal attitudes and motivations would lead a person to become a public defender*, or to stay in the job once they're there. After all, how does one find purpose in a career where one could end up thinking 'My client might have killed someone, but I got the evidence thrown out on a 4th Amendment technicality.'? It clicked today that someone deeply committed to the idea that it's better to let a guilty person walk free than to chance inflicting punishment on the innocent could probably find such a career meaningful and fulfilling.

Just my day's worth of insight.


* Note for non-Americans: a public defender is the lawyer provided to a person who's charged with a crime but can't afford to hire a private one.