Emma Priest, Barrister
I’ve been thinking a lot about why is that I love criminal law. I think that when people commit crime, they show us the extreme end of what are very understandable human emotions.
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There is a common humanity in feelings of shame, rejection, the desire to be loved and accepted, and feelings of failure and pain. We see this played out in the criminal courts acutely, but ultimately the motives or reasons behind offending are ones which we can all relate to.
I did an undergraduate psychology degree and I often find myself reflecting on why a person is offending and the remarkable work that they do as part of rehabilitation either in prison or out.
I spent some time by AVL with a new client this week. He was born into a life of violence and deprivation. His family have all experienced intergenerational trauma. This client, having only known love expressed as violence, was ultimately placed in state care where he was further abused, sexually and physically.
This cemented his core belief that people express care and love by hurting them. He said to me “hurt people hurt people”.
Wow.
We know that offenders, certainly serious offenders, are almost inevitably victims first.
When I heard this tattooed, tough Prisoner telling me about how he is having to relearn his core beliefs, and that he’s working on telling the younger version of himself that he’s safe and that he doesn’t have to use violence to protect himself, it was both confronting and compelling.
The bravery, strength and grit that these people have to continue to live when all they have known is suffering is remarkable.
It is a great privilege to be told their stories and to be trusted with them.
Often as lawyers, we are one of the first trusted people in their lives. We turn up. We are reliable. We do what we say we will do. We advocate for our clients and we role model how conflict in a constructive way.
This is what makes criminal law so meaningful to me.
The ability and the privilege to sit with people who are prepared to turn towards those overwhelming feelings of guilt and shame.
The fact that we get to walk alongside them, watch them change, and articulate this to the court as a conduit is why I do what I do.
This article was first published on LinkedIn
