1975, March, Pg. 521. From our Readers.

4 Colo.Law. 521

Colorado Lawyer

1975.

1975, March, Pg. 521.

From our Readers

521Vol. 4, No. 3, Pg. 521From our ReadersThe following item originally appeared in the president's column of the Boulder County Bar Association Newsletter for September 1974, and is reprinted here as being of general and continuing interest to the bar at large.Postcriminal-Activity Anxieties

or

It's No Reflection on Your Ability as a Lawyer that the Prospect of Going to Jail Depresses Me

There has been considerable discussion the last few weeks about what effect, if any, an individual's depressions should have on disposition of possible criminal matters affecting his future. When this was first brought to my attention I realized that there are in fact no studies dealing with depressions in suspects, indictees or criminals. Accordingly, I conducted a survey among a select few members of our criminal bar. Before releasing the results of this survey to you, I should explain to those members of the association who spend most of their time doing estate planning, corporate work and probate that the criminal bar is so called not because of the activities of its members (with the possible exception of the District of Columbia criminal bar) but because of the activities of its members' clients. Indeed, it is not entirely accurate to say that the criminal bar is so called because of the activities of its members' clients since, of course, the criminal bar spends its time attempting to demonstrate that its clients are not in fact criminals. The better the criminal bar the fewer criminals it represents.

My information was obtained from two members of the criminal bar, a small but representative part of that segment of our bar. The first advised me, albeit reluctantly (not because of his innate modesty but because he did not want to appear to be advertising), that he had one of the highest conviction rates of any member of our criminal bar. For this reason he was an extraordinarily good source from which to obtain information for my study. He advised me that, contrary to what news reports might lead the uninitiated to think, 64.893% of his clients become somewhat depressed upon learning that they are being investigated and may be indicted for felonies. This percentage holds up irrespective of the kind of felonies his clients think they are...