Verified Document

Criminal Justice System The Judiciary Of The Term Paper

Criminal Justice System The judiciary of the United States is created as a co-equal branch of government under the United States Constitution, along with the executive and legislative branches. It is the judiciary that oversees the country's criminal justice system of courts.

The court system in the United States is a holdover from its colonial days and closely follows system laid out by English Common Law. This has given rise to the adversarial court system today, where two sides -- the plaintiff and defendant -- argue their cases in front of an impartial judge and a jury of their peers (Neubauer 2001).

Most criminal cases are jury trials. A jury is charged with determining the facts of the case, as argued by prosecutors who represent the state and the lawyers representing the defendant. The presiding determines and interprets the law in relation to the case (Rabe 2001).

Beginning of a trial

Depending on the state laws, a district attorney or a specially convened grand jury will decide if there a case has enough merit. The first formal step of a criminal proceeding, the plaintiff filed a case in front of a district or trial court (Rabe 2001).

Both the defense and prosecuting lawyers are then given time to make "discovery requests," based on the rules in their jurisdictions. This allows both sides of the criminal case to gather facts and evidence that will be used for the case. In one of the final steps before a trial starts, the prosecutors and defense lawyers both select the members of a jury (Rabe 2001). The selection process allows both sides...

Both sides can also weed out jurors and have the opportunity to, ideally, convene an impartial jury.
Proceedings during trial

The trial is the heart of the American criminal justice process. This provides both sides a chance to present their arguments and their interpretations of the facts and allegations regarding the criminal case.

In most cases, the prosecutors, who represent the people, are allowed to go first. The parties both present an opening statement, where they present the jury with an overview of their different cases (Neubaeur 2001). Each side is then allowed a chance to present their arguments regarding the defendant's guilt or innocence.

The prosecutor is usually allowed a chance to present its case first. The prosecuting lawyer presents proof regarding a defendant's guilt. This includes physical evidence related to the case. The prosecutor could also present financial records, videos taken from the scene, audio recordings and photographic evidence. Often, prosecutors also interview witnesses, such as the victim or people who were present during the commission of the crime and expert witnesses who interpret the evidence for the jury.

After each witness testifies, the defense lawyer is then given an opportunity to ask questions. During this cross-examination, the lawyer tries to either disqualify the witnesses' credibility or to re-interpret the evidence.

The goal of this cross-examination is to sow "reasonable doubt" in the jury's mind regarding…

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited

Champion, Dean John. 2000. Corrections in the United States: A Contemporary Perspective. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Neubauer, David W. 2001. America's Courts and the Criminal Justice System. New York: Wadsworth Publishing.

Rabe, Gary A. 2001. Criminal Courts. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Criminal Justice System Describe Criminal Justice System
Words: 695 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

Criminal Justice System Describe criminal justice system a filtering process. What decides cases stay filtered? What type correctional client process produce? How process impact correctional system an individual institution's ability achieve goals?. Criminal justice system Criminal justice refers to a close examination of laws regarding criminal behavior and subsequent action that follows once found guilty. It involves the judiciary workforce, police, lawyers, members of the Supreme Court and advocates. The goal is to

Criminal Justice System Can Be Described As
Words: 796 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

Criminal justice system can be described as a collection of state, federal and local agencies which are concerned about problems of crimes. Such agencies assist to process convicted offenders, defendants and suspects. They are also interdependent as the decision from one agency is capable of affecting the other agencies. Their primary framework of their system has been provided by the judicial, legislative and executive branches of government. The Legislature: Both federal

Criminal Justice System of Britain
Words: 1568 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

In this way, the prison system in Britain is attempting to incorporate cultural diversity into the criminal justice system, in an effort to ensure success. In addition, many other agencies now offer translation services, support services for culturally varied populations, and are working with other agencies to provide consistent improvement in the representation of the varied populations of Britain. In attempting such an open-armed policy, the criminal justice system is

Criminal Justice System in Two Countries
Words: 4897 Length: 12 Document Type: Term Paper

Criminal Justice System Ever since gaining independence status, both Mozambique and Zimbabwe have come under the scanner for violation of human rights incidences and extrajudicial excesses. The under trials, often arrested without formal sanctions have been continually processed through undemocratic norms and subjected to undue treatment when in confinement and under the control of policing authorities in spite of the fact that statutory provisions in the constitution provide assured guarantee

Criminal Justice System of Haiti
Words: 1675 Length: 6 Document Type: Research Paper

As per the constitution of Haiti – promulgated in 1987 – the government of Haiti has an obligation to not only offer basic protections to the citizens of Haiti, but also maintain law and order. The country’s judiciary, which happens to be one of the three arms of government, is made up of the magistrate’s courts, civil courts, courts of appeal, and court of cassation. This text concerns itself with

Australian Criminal Justice System
Words: 1948 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

Criminal Justice System Australian Criminal Justice System "When all is said and done, the current criminal justice system is about as fair and effective as we can reasonably expect" Overview of the Criminal Justice System: Fair and Effective - Penal Populism The Democracy at Work thesis proposes that politicians have been properly responsive to public concern about crime by putting into place the more robust responses to offending which people want. An alternative perspective

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now