...Court Issues Analysis CJA 394 August 06, 2012 Court Issues Analysis The court and court administrators are faced with numerous issues on a daily basis; everything from the crimes being committed, the language barriers, victims’ rights, and budget related issues just to name a few. The language barrier issue is one of the major challenges faced by the criminal justice system and administrators. The Administrative Office establishes the standards and guidelines for selecting and using interpreters in federal court proceedings (Interpreters Act 1978). Issues Courts and Administrators Face Perhaps the issues courts and administrators face in the courts today is the congestion, backlog, and delay in cases awaiting proceedings. This is a serious issue for courts and administrators in that due to the growing backlog cases may not receive the best of the justice system. Administrators may find themselves rushing through cases to get as many cases processed as possible. This can result in mistakes being made because the courts are not designed to function under such pressures and therefore errors occur in what is referred to as the assembly-line-justice (Stevens, 2004). Because of the stress prosecutors are under cases are dropped without a reason, this is known as nolle prosqui, according to The Free Dictionary it means "we shall no longer prosecute," which is a declaration made to the judge by a prosecutor in a criminal case (or by a plaintiff in a civil lawsuit) either...
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...What are the components of the criminal justice system? How do the components impact the overall process of the criminal justice system? What changes would you recommend to better improve the criminal justice process? Explain. The three components of the criminal justice system are the police, correctional agencies, and criminal courts. The Police are the first step in the judicial system. They are the first responders to any crime scene which goes into the investigation process. The investigation process will then lead to possible arrests; the criminal is then booked and processed. They are given a court date and from that point the case is in the criminal courts domain. Once a suspect is given a court date the Criminal Courts then conduct a fair and impartial trial. The criminal courts are there to protect the rights of anyone facing processing by the justice system. The suspect is then found guilty or not guilty. If the defendant is found guilty they are then transferred from the county jail, where they were being held, to a state prison or correctional facility. The Correctional Agencies are the final step in the criminal justice system. Sometimes this is the end of the road for some offenders and other times appeals are filed and it will go back to the court system. Correctional facilities have different levels: minimum security and maximum security. The severity of the crime will determine which one of the facilities the criminal will end up in. The changes I would...
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...THE JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM CHAPTER ONE Chapter Outline Origins of the Juvenile Justice System Juvenile Court Jurisdiction Defining Delinquency Defining a Juvenile Chapter Objectives After completing this chapter, you should be able to: 1. Describe the jurisdiction of the juvenile court. 2. Explain what is meant by delinquency. 3. Explain what is meant by status offenses. 4. Compare the ways in which the various states define a juvenile. 5. Identify and define the unique terms used in the juvenile justice system. 6. Outline the three major steps in the juvenile justice process. 7. Describe the five decision points in the juvenile justice process. The Language of Juvenile Justice Overview of the Juvenile Justice System Law Enforcement and Other Referral Sources Juvenile Court Disposition Comparison of Juvenile and Criminal Justice Systems 8. Compare and contrast the juvenile and criminal justice systems. 3 4 PART ONE Juvenile Justice and Delinquency in the United States Origins of the Juvenile Justice System Before the establishment of the juvenile justice system, courts and judges treated juveniles as adults and, in many instances, juvenile offenders received the same punishment as adults. There was only one system of justice in the United States, and all offenders were processed through it without regard to age. Under common law doctrine, the legal system the American colonists brought from England, a juvenile age seven or older could receive the same...
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...What are the components of the criminal justice system? How do the components impact the overall process of the criminal justice system? What changes would you recommend to better improve the criminal justice process? Explain. The three components of the criminal justice system are the police, correctional agencies, and criminal courts. The Police are the first step in the judicial system. They are the first responders to any crime scene which goes into the investigation process. The investigation process will then lead to possible arrests; the criminal is then booked and processed. They are given a court date and from that point the case is in the criminal courts domain. Once a suspect is given a court date the Criminal Courts then conduct a fair and impartial trial. The criminal courts are there to protect the rights of anyone facing processing by the justice system. The suspect is then found guilty or not guilty. If the defendant is found guilty they are then transferred from the county jail, where they were being held, to a state prison or correctional facility. The Correctional Agencies are the final step in the criminal justice system. Sometimes this is the end of the road for some offenders and other times appeals are filed and it will go back to the court system. Correctional facilities have different levels: minimum security and maximum security. The severity of the crime will determine which one of the facilities the criminal will end up in. The changes I would...
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...heel of the American juvenile court Fagan & Zimring (2000). Even when public opinion is tolerant of juvenile delinquency, the teen killer is the nightmare case for the juvenile justice system. In an age where the phrase juvenile super predator is often heard in the federal congress and state legislatures, the deep-end adolescent offender is a particular threat to public acceptance of the mission and objectives of juvenile justice. It is little wonder, then, that legislation concerning transfer is a near-universal feature of the politics of juvenile justice. The traditionally stated purpose of judicial wavier is to permit individualization of the decision whether a particular person is capable of being rehabilitated in the juvenile system-the amenability decision Fagan & Zimring (2000). In addition, the judicial wavier procedure provides a safety value for the juvenile system to exclude children who commit offenses that are believed to require the imposition of sanction that are beyond the capacity of the juvenile system to provide. Some form of judicial wavier or a substitute safety value is necessary in order to preserve the juvenile justice system politically within the context of modern penological expectations. It is difficult empirically to evaluate the contemporary role of judicial wavier in the overall context of procedures intended to sort out which cases should be filed and processed in the juvenile system and which in the criminal Fagan & Zimring (2000)....
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...Juvenile and Adult Courts: A Comparative Analysis Paper Cristal Irvin CJS/245 April 7, 2015 Samantha Brown Juvenile and Adult Courts: A Comparative Analysis Paper At one point in history there was only one system of justice for the people of the United States. As time went by, the justice system shifted into two structures which are known as the Juvenile and Criminal Justice System. It was recognized that children and adults were not committing the same crimes. The states responded to this issue by establishing a system that differentiates juveniles from adults by creating the juvenile court system. The Juvenile Court is a complex structure that in order to understand it, one needs to know the process of when a juvenile enters the system. The American Juvenile Justice System is put into place to focus and manage juveniles who are caught and convicted of crimes. The system is formulated by agencies that consist of police officers, prosecutors, juvenile courts, probation officers, and the Department of Juvenile Corrections. The system functions by agencies taking various steps when dealing with a juvenile. The first step is determining who is a juvenile. In most states a juvenile is considered a child between the ages of ten and eighteen and in some states they can set the maximum age as sixteen. When a police officer encounters a juvenile that has committed a crime the police officer has several options on handling a juvenile who has committed a delinquent act. Depending...
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...The Criminal Justice System Individual Project Unit 1 October 8, 2012 @ 11:59 p.m. CST Authored by: April Still If a crime is committed the police are called to the scene to investigate, make a report and possibly an arrest. The role of a Police Officer is to serve and protect the community when a crime has or is being committed. The police are usually the first person to respond to the call. “The duty of a police officer is to enforce the law, investigate the crime that has been committed, apprehend the offender, reduce and prevent crime from occurring, maintain public order, ensure community safety, provide emergency and related community services and protect fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals.” (Schmalleger, F., 2012, chapter 1 page 10). Once the officer has investigated and talked to all witness present at the scene of the crime, the officer will make an arrest if there is probable cause. Once the criminal is arrested, he or she is taken into custody and sent to booking to be processed and finger printed. He will then be placed in a holding facility until an arraignment date. Police officers are involved in the investigative stage of a criminal defendant after a crime has been committed and before the defendant is proven guilty of any crime. A District Attorney is an elected or appointed official of a designated district whose duties are governed by state law. The District Attorney reviews the case to determine whether a person should be...
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...courtrooms across the United States. The dancers consist of trained professionals dedicated to the criminal justice system. Each person has a unique responsibility in regards to the role they play in how cases are processed through the court system. The roles are divided into categories of professionals and non–professionals. The judge, prosecuting attorney, defense attorney, bailiff, court reporter, and court administrator are among the professionals. Non-professional participants are those who attend court proceedings and may include the defendant, victims, witnesses, jurors, spectators and media personnel. There are specific guidelines the individual participants must follow for communicating and processing cases through the court system regardless if the case originates in criminal or civil court. The professional members in the courtroom are responsible for moving cases through the courts and ensuring all Constitutional Rights are protected in the best interest of society. Public outcry and advocacy have led to the emergence of victims’ rights in recent decades. Prosecuting Attorney The prosecuting attorney’s role is to present evidence against the defendant on behalf of society. When a case is presented to them, they must review the evidence and the charges against an individual to warrant moving forward with the case. The prosecutor attends every court proceeding in a criminal case armed with evidence to prove the defendant’s guilt which they must share with the defense. The...
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...Case Attrition Models Decker, Jennifer J CJS/220 February 9, 2014 Raymond Brown Case Attrition Models The criminal justice process begins with a crime being committed, followed by an arrest. Some cases never make it to the courtroom. As one team of researchers noted, “ half or more of all arrests for serious crimes end without convictions” (Feeney, Dill, and Weir, 1983). Furthermore, a percentage of felonies are reduced to misdemeanors, depending on the severity of the case and jurisdictional prosecutorial processes. Society might often wonder why case attrition occurs. One reason is that some actions are not legally defined as crimes, and therefore cannot result in arrest unless legislature changes the laws. The criminal justice process is like a funnel: Wide at the top and tapering to a narrow end. The funnel model demonstrates how the number of crimes that are processed through the system decreases at each step because of attrition (Meyer and Grant, 2003). At each process of the funnel fewer and fewer cases are handled because most cases are shunted out of the system at different points along the way. Another way to view how cases are processed in the system is the wedding cake analogy. The cake demonstrates how cases are sorted in layers depending upon their severity or seriousness. Less serious cases compose the bottom layer and the more serious cases forming the smaller ones on top. The smallest very top layer represents cases that are famous and attract a...
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...Criminal Justice System Pg 1 Criminal Justice System James J. Bradbury University of Phoenix The United States Criminal Justice System has many different components and sub-components, from law enforcement officials to lawyers and judges to the correctional institutions. In this paper I will be defining what each component is responsible for and how it is processed. As this pertains to the health and welfare of the country I will also be explaining how the criminal justice system pertains to the government. The first branch of the system that we will be looking at is law enforcement which includes your police, sheriffs, security guards, and other agencies out there that are charged with upholding the law. When a law is broken it is up to the aforementioned agencies to determine the level in which the crime was committed and apprehend the suspected party who supposedly committed said crime. When it comes to the determination of the severity of crime and who committed the crime, a good amount of discretion must be used so as to warn, investigate, or arrest the suspected party. The information gathered in the investigation can then be presented to the prosecutor for use at trial. If a strong enough case can not be presented, or lack of actus reus(the act of committing the crime) and mens rea(the mental knowledge of committing that crime) then the prosecutor may act to drop the charges thus releasing the suspect. As there are three branches to the Criminal Justice system...
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...Criminal Justice Models Paper Criminal Justice Models Paper There are three models within the criminal justice process. The first model is called the funnel model. The funnel model is wide at the top, and tapers down to a narrow end. The funnel model illustrates the fact that the number of crimes that are processed through the system decreases at each step due to case attrition. The criminal process begins with a crime being committed. The main benefit of the funnel system is that it prevents the criminal justice system from becoming overcrowded. Since there is a decrease in the number of trials and people incarcerated, the system saves money and man hours. A misconception about the funnel system is that it lets criminal off. The second model is called the wedding cake model. The wedding cake model illustrates how cases are sorted into layers depending upon their seriousness, with less serious cases forming the bottom layer of the cake and more serious cases forming the smaller layers on top. The wedding cake models assists in understanding the operation of the criminal justice system. How these cases fit into the overall justice system leads to a clearer understanding of the mechanics of the judiciary. The very top of the cakes, which is the smallest layer represents famous cases that attract a lot of publicity and, unfortunately, contribute to public misinformation about the criminal justice process. The layers of the wedding cake model illustrates two important points...
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...15, 1791 the right to council in the United States was born. This amendment states the following. “In criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district where the crime was committed. Also, the district shall have been previously determined by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation. To be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense” (Amendment 6, 2009). Development of the Right to Counsel The Constitution specifies that the accused possess the right to counsel however, there is no specifications which states that counsel will be available from the government for the individual who have been accused. In most cases, only individuals who are afforded the employment of an attorney would have the indulgence of being represented by one. The right to counsel is a service no longer just limited to adults or to individuals who have financial means of being able to retain attorney but any individual who requests representation. At one time, the right to counsel was a service that was offered to those individuals involved in cases being tried within a criminal trial; however, this is no longer the scenario. Right to counsel can be for any case; criminal, family, juvenile, and labor industries are just a few examples. RIGHT TO COUNSEL 2 Roles...
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...Criminal Justice System Paper According to the dictionary, Crime is “An action or an instance of negligence that is deemed injurious to the public welfare or morals or to the interests of the state and that is legally prohibited. (Lexico Publishing, 2012) ”. Any act that is considered to be unlawful and where society has agreed upon a just punishment for such actions when these acts have been performed is considered to be a crime. These crimes may be violent crimes, white collar crimes, motor vehicle violations, even jay- walking or littering. One of the most common models of how society determines which acts are criminal is the crime-control model, which is a perception that stresses the efficient arrest and conviction of criminal offenders. In the late 1960’s, this model was first brought to the attention of the academic community in Stanford University law professor Herbert Packer’s incisive presentation of the state of criminal justice. This model is sometimes referred to as Packer’s crime-control model. The other most common model of how society determines which acts are criminal is the due process model which is a criminal justice perspective the stresses individual rights at all stages of justice system processing. This process is intended to make sure that innocent people are not convicted of crimes. This is an essential part of the justice system in America. Facts are individually and carefully considered for each case to be determined. The police are required...
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...Robin Clawson Court room When you have reached this point in the judicial process, lives can be changed. Making the wrong decision can allow your life to be altered. There are selected groups of people who help the process of these proceedings. This is the time where a person is considered innocent until proven guilty. As time progress, the process will change and the roles themselves may change. The state courts hear civil, juvenile, drug, traffic, and family cases. While federal courts review cases where federal statues and issues between states are presented. In addition, the appellate court reviews the decisions made in state and federal courts. There is one court in this country that has its own set of rules and guideline that are not set forth by the state or federal government and that is the tribal courts. They have their own set of codes and provisions that they operate under. As I reviewed the tribal courts, I learned that no tribal courts are the same or follow the same guidelines. Therefore, as we review the roles and the workgroup within these courts remember that no two courts and no two cases are the same. Criminal Courts There is a collective group of people and they all play an important role in the courtroom. The judge is the head role on a courtroom; they review evidence and hand down sentencing over each case. They also make sure that the court cases are processed properly and by the guidelines at forth in the federal or state are being meet and they are...
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... Criminal Justice System Crime is an action or omission that constitutes an offense that may be prosecuted by the state and is punishable by the law. Committing any action that is forbidden by the law can be considered a crime. There are some actions that can result in punishment that can be considered criminal. Knowing and understanding what is forbidden by law can be confusing. There are so many things that an individual can commit every day that can be seen as a criminal act. Crime is internal to the law, and thus cannot be adequately analyzed separately. Crime breaks the law and law repairs the crime. Law and crime assume and require each other. “Law has as one of its main purposes to make men go around in more or less clear ways. Law purposes to channel behavior in such manner as to prevent or avoid conflict; and law does in important degree so channel behavior. Without the purpose attribute, law is unthinkable, without the effect attribute, law cannot be said to prevail in a culture. “(The Cheyanne Way, pg.20) Crime is not only theorized as an aspect of law, it is professionally managed through law, and specifically managed on the basis of this normal and conventional character. The two most common ways society determines which acts are criminal are consensus and conflict model. Consensus model defines the criminal behavior as those acts conflict with the values and beliefs of society...
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