In addition, perjury may disqualify a defendant from receiving a downward departure for aberrant conduct.

Virtually every defense lawyer will tell you that the defendant should not testify on his/her own behalf. The reason generally given is that the prosecution will inevitably make it seem, from the defendant's own testimony, that he/she is guilty, and that the defendant should not assist the prosecutor in proving the prosecutor's case against the defendant.

Much of this advice to defendants is based upon the ability of the prosecution to go into other matters unrelated to the crime charged, and make it appear that because the defendant was convicted of bigamy, for example, for obtaining an invalid divorce and then marrying again, that the defendant is guilty of bank robbery, for example.

These rules permitting extensive cross examination of the defendant should be changed, to allow defendants to say what happened without subjecting them to revealing anything they ever did, or allegedly did, in life. By doing this, the jury can hear more about what happened and have more relevant information on which to base their decision.