...The Court’s Administration: An Analysis of the Roles in the Process of Criminal Trial The Court’s Administration: An Analysis of the Roles in the Process of Criminal Trial Criminal procedure is the process of investigating, prosecuting, and punishing crimes (Scheb & Sharma, 2013). Criminal procedure includes law enforcement activities, including the arrest, interrogation, and identification of suspects. Criminal procedure also involves a process of criminal trial, in which a person is tried for their crime. The trial process can be extensive, but criminal charges can also be settled in the pretrial process. The pretrial process largely determines the outcome of a criminal case; most criminal cases never make it to trial. Charges against the defendant may be dropped or dismissed due to a lack of evidence. The defendant may also plead guilty without trial. Many guilty pleas result from plea negotiations between the prosecutors and defendant or defense attorneys. This pretrial process makes a formal criminal trial unnecessary (Scheb & Sharma, 2013). There are various roles in the criminal trial process, including the judge, the prosecuting attorneys, the jury, and the expert witnesses such as forensic psychologists. The assortment of roles has a high effect on the outcome for the defendant. A prosecutor is responsible for determining what charges to pursue and whether to plea bargain with the defendant. A jury decides a verdict. A judge decides a sentence. A forensic...
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...Assignment 3 The Court: 19th Judicial Circuit Court of Cole County MO Court Address: 301 E High St Jefferson City Mo 65101 Court Telephone: (573) 634-9150 Date of Court Visit: September 21, 2015 Name of Case: State of Missouri v. Steidley Subject of case: (retrial) 2nd degree arson I went to the Cole County Courthouse to observe a criminal jury trial that involved a retrial for second degree arson. I was able to be a part of the jury selection proceedings. I witnessed what kinds of questions that are asked of the potential jurors and to see how people respond or act when they are put on the spot about their personal beliefs about certain things. This was a very interesting proceeding for me as I have never been selected for jury duty and have only seen it on television. My first impression of the courtroom happened for me a little over a year ago when I was sitting in here for an issue with my juvenile son. I was scared to death then. This time I am much more relaxed, just knowing I am here to observe the proceedings about to take place and that there is nothing personal toward me. There is a kind of elegance to the decorations even though the temperature is very cold. There is a faux balcony painted to make the second story look more open. There are two sections of benches that are for spectators to sit in as well as friends and family or witnesses. The jury box is to the right of the doors and has twelve chairs for the selected jurors. In the middle of the room is...
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...Justin nikirk Law enforcement Lori Petro 4/24/15 Part 3 of final project Biography of police chief Name: Garry Hamilton Height: 6ft 2in Weight: 185lbs Hobbies: Hunting, fishing, cars, martial arts Family: Wife (Debbie) Four Kids (Joe, Justin, Matthew, Kristina) Mother (Tina) Dad (Chad) Education: High school diploma (Northrop High School) Associates Degree in Criminal Justice (Ivy Tech Community College) Police Career: Accepted 1989, captain in 2000, Lieutenant in 2010, Police chief in 2014 Community profile The township of St. Joe is a very close community everybody respects each other and everybody helps each other if they ask for it. There is this one kid named Justin Nikirk and he is one of the most helpful person in the whole community. He is always volunteering to help the local baseball team to help the little kids have fun and learn the fundamentals of baseball. He is currently employed at Fort Wayne ATA as an instructor of the Korean martial art Tae kwon Do he has achieved the rank of 2nd degree black belt. The kids their really love him and they keep him on his toes when they try to be deviant. There is no such thing as the perfect community in ours we have some bad areas and some good areas. We have recently seen a rise in the amount of drugs and drug sales in our area. It seem like every time I read the newspaper I see that there is a new drug bust. I personally hate drugs they can be expensive and they take your life away. Also, I have been hearing...
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...The criminal trial process begins with the arresting of the individual or the filing for an arrest warrant. An arraignment usually occurs within 48 hours after an arrest. At this time if the defendant has not been mirandized, they will advise them of their rights and of the charges against one. Bail will be set as long as the charge is not murder (2011). A judge can determine if he wants to impose bail for someone charged with murder. They will be given a date for their next court appearance and will be able to post bail and leave or if bail is denied will be remanded into custody (2011). In a state case the preliminary hearing is the next step. Within 7 to 10 days of the initial arraignment the preliminary hearing will take place. During this hearing a district judge will decide if the charges should be upheld. The prosecutions job is to prove that the charges are valid via a prima facie case. Witnesses and evidence will be provided by the prosecutor. The defense attorney does not provide any at this point. If the charges are federal charges an individual goes before a grand jury instead of a preliminary hearing. Grand jury trials are private hearings comprised of 23 citizens. The only one allowed to present in this hearing is the jury, prosecutor, and any witnesses the prosecutors deems necessary. The witnesses can only enter one at a time and have to leave immediately after giving there testimony. A formal arraignment takes place within 30 days from the...
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...A criminal trial is engineered to determine the guilt or innocence of a defendant. Essential to that process is the jury. The jury is charged with the responsibility of digesting the facts of the case and then impartially rendering a proper verdict. The process of selecting a jury is critical to the efforts of the prosecution and defense teams. Because criminal trials are adversarial in nature both the prosecution and the defense will attempt to seat juries they believe might ultimately find in their favor at the conclusion of the trial. With such high stakes on the line jury selection is an essential stage in a criminal trial. Jury selection commences just after the trial itself initiates and prior to the delivery of opening statements. None of the proceeding stages of a criminal trial can proceed without the seating of an impartial panel that is made up of a representative sample of the community. Seating a jury that reflects the greater community can be a challenge. Additionally, meeting the desires of both the prosecution and defense can be a challenge as both sides want jurors that would be more likely to rule in their favor. Both are permitted to question potential jurors. Attorneys have the opportunity to challenge potential jurors in order to have the individual removed from the panel. The challenge can be based on reasons that include a belief that the juror cannot render an unbiased decision or can be made without explanation although this type of challenge, a peremptory...
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...Title: DON’T SMOKE CIGARETTES! General purpose: To persuade Specific Purpose: To persuade my fellow classmates that smoking cigarettes is not ok and they can cause harm. Thesis: Smoking cigarettes can cause many problems in life, many such as: addition, financial issues, and health problems. Attention Step: When you were younger were you every stuck in the car with a relative that smoked a cigarette? Well, I did! I had my grandmother, granddad and an aunt of mine. All of them took me to school a different morning, and every morning I endured in second hand smoke. I hated the smell of cigarettes and shortly after I hated cigarettes because cigarettes took my grandmother, granddad, and my aunt. They all suffered from Lung cancer. Smoking cigarettes can cause many problems in life, many such as: addition, financial issues, and health problems. A. First smoking cigarettes cause addition. a. According to www.buzzle.com an article by Leena Palande Nicotine addiction facts inform us that each puff of a cigarette transmits nicotine to the brain within 10 seconds and INSTANTLY, you feel more alert and calm. b. Also, on the same article Leena states that another reason why cigarettes are so addicting is because the nicotine gives pleasure and relaxation to the brain. So basically If try to stop it’s going to be hard because you brain wants nicotine. c. Don’t smoke cigarettes! B. Second smoking cause financial problems. d. According to the Census...
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...Crime is a serious problem worldwide that affects many societies. Because of this issue, we have had to come up with a complex set of laws procedures for dealing with those accused of breaking the law. I will attempt to explain the criminal justice process and the different avenues the process can take. When crimes do occur in the United States this is only the start of the criminal process. First a crime must committed or believed to be committed. Usually some one will call 911, 311, or flag down an officer or perhaps the officer will witness the crime him or herself. Some time criminals are caught in the act or apprehended some later. The choice to commit crime is up to each of us and is really the start of the entire process. Every thing that comes after is just a response to this act. The next step after apprehending a suspect is to read this person their Miranda rights. This is very important as a suspect could be set, free later on at trial if this does not happen. Law Enforcment officers at any level must verbally inform an individual of their rights. These are the right to remain silent, warning that any answers can be used in a court of law, and the right to an attorney. This is a good thing because the person under arrest may not understand the right afforded to them and unfairly incriminate them self. These right are mainly the consequence of the U.S supreme court ruling in the case of Miranda vs Arizona. (Miranda v. Arizona (1966),This law was not universally accepted...
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...The criminal trial In a criminal trial process a person is convicted of committing a criminal offense in which then they are subject to certain penalties such as paying a fine and restitution, serving time in prison or jail, or community service. First comes the pre-trail procedure in which a person is arrested for breaking a criminal law appears before a judge within twenty-four hours. The judge will inform the person of the charges and bail or conditions of release. After the initial appearance, the defendant is entitled to a preliminary hearing to determine if there is sufficient evidence to continue the case. Following the filing of a trial information or indictment, the defendant will appear for an arraignment Secondly is the trial process where the parties will have the opportunity to question the prospective jurors. After the jury selection, the state will read the trial information or indictment and the defendant's plea. Following the trial comes the verdict where the jury in a criminal case must return a unanimous verdict. In most cases, the verdict is either guilty or not guilty. The jury may also find the defendant guilty of a lesser charge, if that lesser charge was submitted in the jury instructions. If the jury cannot reach a unanimous verdict, the court will declare a mistrial and the case may be tried again to another jury at a later date. After the return of a guilty verdict, the jury's duty is complete. The jury is not involved in determining the defendant's...
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...Cameras Be Placed in Courtrooms So That Criminal Trials Can Be Televised? It is axiomatic in democracy that everyone has access to the justice system and has the right to know how those laws are enforced. This can be ensured by having trials in courtrooms televised. Whether to have cameras in courtrooms or not was a huge debate that began back in 1977 in Miami (May 2008). After a long debate higher court judges decided to allow trials to be televised in Miami. Those debates never ended because of different judges all over the world having different opinions. Personally speaking, cameras should be allowed in courtrooms so that criminal trials can be televised, to make it clear to people what circumstances they would face if they were to do anything illegal. In every country in the world laws are made in the parliament by the government in regards to the opinions of higher court judges. Many proceedings carried in the parliament are allowed to be televised so that citizens can know what the laws they should abide by are. The irony in televising parliament proceedings is that people are allowed to watch laws being made, but they cannot see how they are being enforced. If criminal trials are televised then people can know how those laws are being enforced and would be more cautious by restraining themselves from breaking the law. This is because they would know what the circumstances of their actions are, thanks to the televised criminal trials. In the United States TV cameras are...
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...the Fifth Amendment and how it was used to protect the citizens of several cases and how the people were protected with the Fifth Amendment rule inside the system of law. Double jeopardy is a procedural defense that forbids a defendant from being tried again on the same charges following a legitimate acquittal or conviction. In most countries with the common law rule most criminals are allowed to enter a plea of not guilty or autrefois acquit, which is a French law meaning a person has been found not guilty of the same charge in a previous trial with the same evidence and cannot be retried for the same crime regardless of what new evidence that has surfaced. Double Jeopardy is a procedural defense that protects a person from being tried again for the same crime. Double Jeopardy is the oldest legal concept of western civilizations. Double jeopardy is the prosecution of a person for an offense for which he or she has already been prosecuted. The double jeopardy clause, which is in the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution, was designed to protect an individual from being subject to trials and possible convictions more than once for an alleged offense. The idea was not to give the State too much over the individual, this way no individual will be subject to embarrassment, expense, and ordeal against being tried for an alleged offense more than once. It also reduces the possibility of someone innocent being found guilty. The double jeopardy...
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... What is an appeal? An appeal is a process which assists defendants from wrongful incarceration, (What are Appeal Courts for? 2004). An Appeal if successful allows the higher court to over-turn a lower court’s decision. An appeal is also a defendant’s way of challenging the court’s decision. In the Criminal Justice system, an appeal takes place when an offender “tried in court”, is found guilty, later sentenced or someone who is already convicted and incarcerated may be released from incarceration or a sentence vacated if the prison term has not commenced with a successful appeal. A sentence can be vacated via an appeal, or reduced even after the sentence has begun. In Federal court, the attorney or offender files a brief(s) in support of their motion 2255 to vacate the sentence. In Europe, they follow a different standard as follows: But it is as well to remember, for example, that while article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights,agreed in November 1950, guarantees you a fair trial, it does not guarantee you a right to appeal against the outcome of that trial. The right of appeal is to be found in article 2 of the Seventh Protocol to the Convention which was only agreed so 34 years later, in November 1984. So, even in the legal thinking of the modern world, appeals are something of an additional luxury, (What are Appeal Courts for?, 2004). The following are permissible grounds for appeal. ...
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...Courtroom Work Group There are many parts of the courtroom and the process of convicting a criminal. The courtroom work group has a major role in convicting and finalizing a case. In the courtroom work group, there are three groups of people that hold the entire courtroom together. Without the work group, the courtroom would not flow, and coming to a conclusion to the case would not be as easy. The work group is made up of the Judge, the Defense Counsel and the Prosecution. They work together to reach a result, in the case by staying in contact on a daily basis. There are many roles in the work group, and if they are not all followed through with then the results could be different than what they should be. In this paper, we will look at the roles of the prosecutor, how the criminal justice funnel effects the courtroom work group and what will help eliminate the funnel and reduce the backlog of cases. The Work Group The courtroom work group is composed of various people who make the court systems work to the best of their ability. Each person has its position, and she/he is responsible for their part. We can start from the top, first we have a Judge, he/she is responsible for imposing the proper judging techniques in the courtroom, and they are to make sure the accused rights are not violated in the courtroom. Then we have a defense attorney, and the defense attorney is to defend his client against any wrongdoing by the court and prove his client is innocent of the charges...
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...REPORTABLE IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 90 OF 2015 (arising out of SLP (Crl.) NO. 5382 of 2014) State of Punjab …..Appellant versus Bawa Singh …..Respondent JUDGMENT M. Y. EQBAL, J. Leave granted. 2. This appeal by special leave is directed against the judgment dated 11.11.2013 passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana in Crl. Rev. No. 1789 of 2013 whereby the High Court upheld the conviction of the respondent but 1 Page 1 reduced the period of sentence to the period already undergone. 3. The facts of the case in brief are that a FIR No. 151 dated 31.10.2004 was lodged against the respondent Bawa Singh and his wife Labh Kaur. The complainant Binder Singh alleged that on 30.10.2004 while he was going on his tractor to his fields he saw the respondent with a cycle and carrying a gandasa accompanied by his wife Labh Kaur whereupon he stopped his tractor. The respondent and his wife were alleged to have said that the complainant needed to be taught a lesson and allegedly hit the complainant with the gandasa. The cries of the complainant alerted his father Jangir Singh and his brother Hardev Singh who rushed to the spot whereupon the respondent and his wife fled abandoning the cycle. The complainant alleged that there was a property dispute between the parties. The complainant was admitted to a hospital and his statement was taken only on the next day i.e....
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...attorneys, the defense attorneys and the prosecutors. The defense attorney is there to prove their client is innocent while the prosecutor is there to make sure that the defendant is found guilty of the charges that he is facing. While the defense attorney is trying to prove the innocence of their client the attorney or attorneys must find errors in a case to try and get a mistrial or try and build up evidence that the defendant was nowhere near the crime at the time it was committed so they are going to find alibies on where the defendant was at the time of the crime and they are going to try and get witnesses to vouch for the defendant. In cases there are prosecutors that have found evidence against the defendant and when the trial is in order and the prosecutor is cross examining a witness the defense attorney may...
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...Assignment 2 Tracy Barger CRJ100- Introduction to Criminal Justice Professor Jason Douglas Strayer University August 20, 2015 Discuss one real life criminal case, taken from current events, identify the court that took jurisdiction. Explain why the court that took the case was the appropriate one for the particular circumstances. One of the fundamental questions of law is if a given court has the jurisdiction to preside over any given case. The jurisdictional question can be broken down into three components: whether there is over the person, whether there is jurisdiction over the subject matter, and whether there is jurisdiction to render the particular judgment sought. There are also different courts that have jurisdiction depending on the case. State courts have general jurisdictions, meaning that they can hear any controversy except those prohibited by their specific state laws. Federal courts have limited jurisdiction , meaning that they only exercise powers granted to them by the Constitution and Federal Laws. The criminal case I chose for this assignment is the case of James “ Whitey “ Bulger a crime syndicate head With a larger than life history that includes bank robbery, and being a gun supplier for the Irish Republican Army the one time F.B.I informant and head of Boston's Winter Hill Gang...
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