Personal Narrative: A Career As A District Attorney

My curiosity in law peaked right around eighth grade. My English class had been reading Monster, a novel written by Walter Dean Myers concerning a teenage boy in juvenile detention and on trial. My interest in legal studies has led me to researching a well-known, yet underestimated, career choice--a prosecuting attorney. A prosecutor is also referred to a district attorney, but is completely different from a defense attorney. While defense attorneys represent an individual client in attempt to prove their innocence, prosecutors represent the state with hopes to convict the client as guilty. I also want to find out exactly what their position in court is and how they question witnesses. Likewise, it is important to be knowledgeable of how prosecutors …show more content…
To start, there are several requirements to becoming a prosecution lawyer. According to “Requirements to Become a Prosecution Lawyer”, “before entering law school, the person must obtain an undergraduate degree… The applicant must also take the Law School Admissions Test, LSAT.” After taking the LSAT and getting into a law school, some required classes must be taken, including the following: real property, legal research and writing, contracts, civil procedure, criminal law, tort law, constitutional law, professional responsibility, and professional skills. “Considering a Career as a District Attorney” adds on to these qualifications, “potential attorneys must go through the grueling process of passing the bar exam before they decide which state to practice in.” Once one has become a prosecutor, they must oblige to certain responsibilities. “Functions - Duties and Responsibilities of …show more content…
“What are the Different Kinds of Lawyers” summarizes, “Prosecutors work for federal, state, county and city governments. They are assigned to prosecute suspects who are accused of crimes. Prosecutors research cases, work closely with law enforcement and offer plea bargains or take cases to trial.” Plea bargains are given when the defendant agrees to plead guilty, in order to drop or reduce their charges. In Stacey Honowitz’s article “Life as a Prosecutor”, she writes, “Does the public ever know how many prosecutors have sat in their offices crying because they believed so much in a case and the jury said ‘not guilty’? How about a prosecutor who has a great case, great evidence and a victim that refuses to testify in court because their sex life will now be known to a bunch of strangers? That’s the side of a prosecutor that nobody chooses to explore. That’s the life that some of us lead.” Honowitz’s moving article speaks about how underrated the job of a prosecutor is. She states that defense attorneys get much more attention that the prosecutors. In conclusion, the role of a prosecutor is very undervalued, but very