As one of the nation's most established universities, ASU has once again been forced to make up for the shortcomings of others.
Such is the case when the ASU College of Law became the first law school in the country to offer legal advice to victims of crime after representatives of the Maricopa County Attorney's Office proved to have insufficient training. The generosity of law students will bring even more attention to ASU and should serve as an example for others to follow.
You would think the Maricopa County Attorney's Office would have advocates who are actually competent enough to give adequate legal assistance. But since this presumption has failed to hold true, ASU students have been called upon to pick up the slack.
Despite having to worry about attending classes, actually passing classes and parking illegally on campus without getting busted, ASU students are more than willing to render legal advice.
The two-year project, funded by the Arizona Department of Public Safety and made possible by a $122,700 grant under the Victims of Crime Act, will allow ASU law students to get a taste of the future. Although no school credit will be awarded for participation in the Victim's Legal Assistance Project, the opportunities are endless.
Hopefully, Sun Devils will be more than capable of taking on responsibilities like representing victims in court hearings, assisting victims in recovering restitution and providing legal counsel to victims of felonies and misdemeanors involving violence.
The job goes far beyond sitting at a desk filing papers. However, ASU students aren't going to take on quite as big of challenges as those seen weekly on "Law & Order," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."
After all, it takes years of training to do what Jack McCoy, Abbie Carmichael, Lennie Briscoe and Ed Green have done. Only an elite few will ever reach that level of success.
But having already accepted more than 50 cases thus far, the program seems mighty tempting to victims of crime who could not otherwise receive proper representation in a court of law. With a budget larger than ever before, the program is sure to take on more cases with every passing year.
Working with college students may encourage more victims to come forth in an attempt to punish those responsible. Some young victims, who might feel awkward working with professional attorneys, could relate better with students of their same age.
And what students are better to work with than those in the ASU College of Law? With a student-faculty ratio of about 10:1, ASU's law students are presented with the training needed to be successful in the years to come.
Whenever we here at the State Press run into trouble, the first place most of us turn to is ASU, for that is where we feel comfort, safety and security. And among all other things, ASU is a place where we can more than likely find someone else going through a similar situation.
Which is exactly why victims of crimes should look no further than the Tempe campus. Otherwise, they would be left to watching NBC primetime and hoping for the best.
