ABSTRACT
The Defender's world consists of people who come together to create the reality of the criminal court. This reality is created through cultural systems of meaning that are shared among all court actors to varying extents. Employing these cultural systems, Defenders interpret their own and others' roles. Role prerequisite behaviors are taken-for-granted understandings about 'who' the key players are in the court system and what they do. The fundamental grounds not only for court-appointed but for all types of defense attorneys is defense. Although all judges perform the same role prerequisite behavior, they do not do so in precisely the same ways. Thus, in an apparent effort to reduce the uncertainty surrounding their behavior, Defenders particularize their perceptions by focusing on important adjudication patterns that distinguish among judges. The jury in a criminal case is expected to act as the judge of evidence brought forth during a trial.
