...Criminal Justice System Humberto Garcia CJA/204 January 13.2014 David Mitchell, MPA Criminal Justice System To talk about criminal justice is important to define crime, its relationship to the law, and the two most common models of how society determines which acts are criminal. Also is important to describe the government structure as it applies to the criminal justice system. Furthermore, identifying the choice theories and their assumptions in regards to crime is important. As well as describing the components of the criminal justice system and the criminal justice process. In addition, identifying the goals of the criminal justice system is essential when talking about criminal justice, and addressing thoughts on whether the criminal justice system is really a system. Defining a crime and its relationship to the law is an important component when talking about criminal justice. In fact, according to University of Phoenix, CJi Interactive, crime can be defined as “conduct in violation of the criminal law of the state, the federal government, or local jurisdiction, for which there is no legally acceptable justification or excuse.” Meaning, that every crime depends on the location of the person who broke the law, which the same suggest that a person’s behavior may not be consider a crime depending on the status of the person who committed the crime, and even why this person broke the law. Consequently, society determines which are criminal acts...
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...A School Resource Officer(SRO) is a job that I grew to like during my internship at OCSO. My first weeks at my internship I worked a lot with SROs. My daily duties consisted of monitoring students, writing reports, and being a mentor for students. Also, I assisted several officers with varies projects, in which we presented to the students. Sheriff Murant informed me that our alternate goal is to creating and maintaining a safe ,secure ,and suitable learning environment for students,teachers, and staff. Every since I have started working with the different SROs , I can truly say that the work really hard to make sure every duty is completed with proficiency. I observed how a lot of students looked up to Sheriff Murant as a mother. They never seem to feel afraid to come a talk to her about any problems that they encountered. Also, at Howard Middle School I observed how the students respected all rules that were given to them. I enjoyed working with the students and hearing their stories. A Student Resource Officer is a job I think I would master and become comfortable in. A Student Resource Officer (SRO) is a law enforcement officer who is assigned to a middle or high school. Their main goal is to prevent juvenile delinquency by having a positive relationship with the youth . SRO of Orangeburg County Sheriff's Office( OCSO) have a program that places law enforcement in schools. Their goal is to create a safe, secure, and functional learning environment for the students, teachers...
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...The Levels of Criminal Justice Get Involved in Law Enforcement Your experience at South University will be richer and more memorable if you get involved in there Law Enforcement Career. You will have an opportunity to meet other students, faculty, and staff members and will participate in Law Enforcement activities that will make your learning experience more valuable to you and your college experience. Consider becoming involved in Law Enforcement. You might take part in activities such as these: * Get to watch an autopsy * Get to see what the jail or prison looks like * Get to volunteer in the community to help the police * Get to choose which areas you would like to work * Help make the community better Police Officers As a police officer, you are eligible to attend meetings of the Sergeants to see what needs to be done in the community. At the meeting, you will have the opportunities to learn about what is new in the community and try to better at the same time. At the conclusion of the meeting, the Sergeants invite the officer to voice their own opinions. Eventually, you might decide to run for the Sergeants position. Police officers are to follow these steps: * Enforce the Law * Investigate Crimes * Apprehend Offenders * Reduce and Prevent Crimes * Maintain Public Order * Ensure community safety * Provide emergency and related community services * Protect the Fundamental rights and freedoms of Individuals. Courts ...
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...Juvenile Court Process Faye D. Baker CJS 220 July 27 2011 Curtis Turney The juvenile court system was designed to help juveniles rather than project harsh punishment on their lives. It is design to provide social services and assistance. Most juveniles commit crimes or get into trouble with the law, due to rebellion. There are many reasons a child falls into the juvenile court system. A few reasons are death of parents, poverty environment, molestation, child abuse and rape. The maximum age for juveniles is seventeen. At the age of eighteen the child is considered as a young adult. The juvenile court process includes four different processes. The first is called Intake which starts the process procedure to determine the seriousness of the crime, and whether the case should go to court. There are four other processes under intake. The first is detention hearing. The child has to go through a detention hearing to determine court appearance and whether protection is needed until he or she appears in court. The second is the transfer procedure, which consist of transferring the case to another jurisdiction. The third is the Waiver hearing; waiver hearing is when the case requires a hearing before being transferred. The last process is statutory waiver; this process determines whether or not the child is treated as an adult depending on the seriousness of the crime. Adjudication, This level of the process clearly states that juvenile crime process is less than...
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...any questioning, if you wish. * If you decide to answer any questions now, without an attorney present, you will still have the right to stop answering at any time until you talk to an attorney. * Knowing and understanding your rights as I have explained them to you, are you willing to answer my questions without an attorney present? These rights come into play when you are in custody of the law. A person should always be told these when they are told they are under arrest. If he continues questioning without reading him his rights the court can decide to not listen to the information given by Officer James. He should detain or arrest the suspect and then read him his rights and THEN continue. References Lyman, M. (2008). Criminal Investigation (5th ed). Pearson Learning Solutions. Retrieved from...
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...Criminal Conduct and Criminal Law LEG 320 July 25, 2014 Strayer University CRIMINAL CONDUCT AND CRIMINAL LAW Actus rea and mens rea are both important elements to convicting anyone for any crime. The actual commitment of a criminal act is actus rea. The guilty or criminal mind state is mens rea. Despite the fact that both actus rea and mens rea do not have to exist a conviction is still very feasible. When a criminal act is committed and the individual does not have to mens rea or guilty mind in some instances without the required mental state no crime is committed. Persons incapable of entertaining the required criminal mind because of legal insanity have not committed a crime. Working with individuals who have been diagnosis with mental retardation has really opened my mind to the element of mens rea when the individual has done something illegal. Some of the individuals have it in their mind that because the have been diagnosis with mental retardation they can not be held responsible for the criminal act they may commit or have committed, I have even heard many of the individuals say it. Does this mental state qualify them of the required state of mind for conviction? Immunity as a defense works in some cases not all. Immunity is the exemplification from criminal prosecution based on statues, the U.S. Constitution or international agreements. Diplomatic immunity is granted to those who are visiting foreign officials. Diplomatic immunity can also be waived by...
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...Assignment List Unit 1 - The Criminal Justice System Reading Assignment: Schmalleger Chapters 1 & 3 Assignment Type: Individual Project Deliverable Length: 4-6 pages Points Possible: 125 Due Date: 7/24/2011 11:59:59 PM CT You are a peace officer trainee assigned to your first post of duty. Your supervisor calls you into his office and tells you that he needs you to prepare content for a presentation at a local university for students in a criminal justice program. He explains that the public information officer (PIO), the individual previously assigned to give this presentation, is testifying in court and cannot leave. He further informs you that you will need to put the content together from scratch as he has never done this before. Please answer the following questions and requirement to write your 4 -6 page paper. As you answer each question you must provide support or evidence that will enhance and empirically prove your answers. Academic criminal justice articles or real-life criminal justice findings that are not found in journals or other academic sources must be used in supporting your answers. Please use APA style for all cited sources including your resource page. The content is to be an overview of the criminal justice system and a description of these roles: police officer or federal agent district attorney's office or the United States Attorney's Office defense counsel federal, state, and local judges/magistrates Discuss the stages (investigative, prosecutorial)...
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...point in time, it became a unified idea to have some place to house criminals. The division of the criminal justice system that is responsible for housing criminals is known as The Department of Corrections. The Department of Corrections gives communities protection by providing jails and prisons for criminals. These facilities allow offenders to receive fair service while serving their time. The mission of places to house criminals is to reduce the risk of criminal conduct through a partnership with communities, with a continuum of community supervision, incarceration, sanctions and services to manage offender behavior. The fundamental value in the continuum of probation, prison, and parole is the principle that the least restrictive method be used to oversee offender behavior (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2009). Corrections have been around for quite some time. During the 1700’s, prisons were a terrible environment for prisoners. Prisons were nasty and did not provide good care for prisoners. The prisons were unsanitary and many prisoners got sick because of the filthy conditions. It has been proven that many times prisoners did not eat properly in prison and they received harsh corporal punishment on a regular basis. As time progressed, the prisons began to develop in a positive manner (www.prisonsociety.org/about/history.htm). During the 19th century, America was the first nation to hold convicted criminals in areas away from those awaiting trial. America also outlawed torture...
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...When choosing an international criminal justice system, I would have to say the most well-known one would have to be Interpol. When discussing police forces within the United States, Interpol by far is the largest police association in existence. At the current time Interpol consists of one hundred and ninety different countries, and each country does take an active role in the organization. The biggest difference between International Criminal justice and criminal justice as we know it within the United States, is that when a decision has to be made on how to handle a criminal situation, with respect to Interpol, it is discussed amongst the various member countries, and within the United States the levels of justice are local, state, and federal, but they all operate with the same basic set of rules. When dealing with so many different countries the emphasis is on making sure that a resolution is found amongst all the countries. The best part of Interpol is that it gives the participating countries another method of solving crimes that may have originated in other countries. The only issue that Interpol ever encounters, is when a criminal is operating outside of the jurisdiction of any of the respective countries that are members of Interpol. As far as the effect globalization has or has had upon the United States and our criminal justice, the main issue has been that many countries do feel as though they will not allow the US to pursue certain measures of justice....
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...The process of criminal procedure involves regulations, which aid the order of procedures the government authorities use to apply criminal laws. The Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth amendment, and the Supremes Court understanding of the constitution are important for the study of criminal procedures (Zalman, 2008). The Federal Rules in criminal procedures ensure citizens’ rights to due process, right to a fair trial, right to equal protection, and right to lie, liberty, and property. Due process and crime control models play a major role in shaping criminal procedures. Both models hold some form of constitutional values required in the society we live in (Zalman, 2008). In this paper I will briefly discuss the similarities and the differences and how they have an effect on criminal procedure policies. Crime control model is known as the “presumption of guilt” model. This model assumes defendants are guilty, police and prosecutors are precise in their choices to arrest, apprehend, and prosecute suspects. As a result, the remaining steps in the criminal procedures become automatic and the investigative stages can be opposed (Zalman, 2008). Defendants are moved swiftly through the criminal justice system because he or he is presumed guilty until proven innocent in the court of law. Due process is based on the adversary law system, which believes an individual is innocent until proven guilty in the court of law. The adversary system prohibits law enforcement...
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...Questions 1. Should morality, in and of itself, be considered a sufficient basis for dening particular conduct as criminal? I think by itself morality should not be used as a basis because the definition of morality varies greatly by person and location. What is moral behavior to one person, could also be non-moral behavior for another. 2. What are the chief distinctions between the civil law and the criminal law? Why Do criminal and civil law sometimes overlap? Whether a tort or a crime was committed. One could punch another in the face and commit the crime of battery, thus being criminally prosecuted and or fined or jailed. At the same time the victim can sue for medical bills, and pain and suffering as compensation. 3. To what extent is the English common law significant in contemporary American criminal law? English common law is the basis for American criminal law, it was built off of it. It’s a statutory system. 4. What is the essential difference between substantive criminal law and procedural criminal law? Give examples of each. Substantive laws define crimes and outline their penalties. An example would be possession of heroin. Procedural laws deal with enforcement of substantive law, determination of guilt, and punishment of the guilty. An example is search and seizure to obtain that evidence. 5. What means of punishment for criminal offenses exist in your state? Is capital punishment available for persons convicted of first-degree murder? Which punishments...
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...Criminal act is when any behaviour breaks the law. Some people may argue that crime only occurs when someone intends to break the law. Other people say that its when crime is intended and causes harm to people or their property. Criminal behaviour also depends on time and culture. The problems of official crime is: * statistics count the number of criminal acts rather than the number of criminals. So they make a mistake by counting one crime that might be committed by a group of criminals. * some people may not report the crime. * some people may not be aware that they are the victim of the crime. Crime as an act against the law would make most people as a criminal as every adult breaks the law at some point in their lives. The common characteristics of criminals are: * impulsiveness * no feelings of guilt * pleasure seeking * self importance Criminal Personality - attitudes that make a person different from normal. Core Theory: Biological Theory The biological theory states that criminal behaviour is inherited. This means that a person is already genetically programmed to behave in anti social ways. Studies do show that there are criminal families. So if a persons parent is a criminal then there is a high chance of them being a criminal. Criminal personality attitudes that make a person different from normal. The biological Genes have an affect on the brain development also known as brain dysfunction. The areas that the brain gets damaged are: * Pre-frontal...
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...Criminology is the scientific study of the nature, extent, case, and control of criminal behaviour in both the individual and society. Criminology has been studied for many years and it has become a major topic in our society. I believe criminals are not born criminals. It’s our own choice to commit a crime. Also, criminal behaviour comes from our living environments. Lastly if anyone is a criminal they were raised to be a criminal. It is our own choice to commit a crime. Just like it is our own choice to study for an upcoming test in school. In the classical early history of criminology, a guy named Jeremy Bentham believed in utilitarianism which is the view that people’s behaviour is motivated by the pursuit to seek pleasure and avoid pain. It is about what a person wants. The consensus theory is a sociological early history theory which states that people know the difference between right and wrong, some individuals choose to do wrong. We all have a brain and we all know how to use it. Lastly, the rational choice and deterrence theory plays an important part of a criminal. Some people suggest that criminals calculate the costs and the benefits of criminal activity and if the benefit outweighs the cost, the criminal is willing to take the risk of getting caught. These theories prove that a criminal can think before they do. Everybody has a choice in life. Criminal behaviour also comes from growing up in poverty. Some people have less ...
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...corrections system is a constantly changing system in today’s society. The allowance of change within this system is crucial to society’s needs. From centuries ago, punishment, itself has changed drastically. Jail Jail, is a place where criminal offenders are taken. Jails are usually run by the county Sherriff. This type of correctional facility is a criminal offender’s first stop, depending on the crime committed, that is used to straighten out the misbehavior of the said criminal offender in the hopes they will change their ways. According to Seiter (2011),”Jails are the watershed of the correctional system. The U.S. jail is the oldest of the correctional components, initiated well before prisons, probation, parole, or halfway houses.” ("Chapter 3: Jails") Jails have been involved in the correctional system for a long time. The original purpose of a jail was to lock away a criminal offender. Treatment in jails was poor and conditions ever worse. Now that jail has evolved, it serves as a place of rehabilitation and a place that transitions criminal offenders into being put back into society. “Probably no major segment of the criminal justice system is less studied, evaluated, or understood than the nation’s jails. Yet no segment of the criminal justice system touches more people’s lives.” (Seiter, 2011, "Chapter 3: Jails"). History of Prisons “Most people think that only the federal and state governments operate prisons for adult offenders, but there are actually several other...
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...to explain the criminal behavior. A theory is an abstract statement that explains why certain things do or do not happen. A valid theory is based on and must have the ability to be able to predict future occurrences of the phenomenon in question. Also, a valid theory has the ability to be validated or tested through experiment or other observation. Today the theories used to explain criminal behavior include what are the onsets, the continuation, and the eventual desistance from a criminal career. The rational theory is when a person commits a crime and their actions are rational and contain detailed planning and making decisions used for personal gain. The person in this theory does everything and thinks outside of the box to avoid capture or punishment. The offender thoroughly evaluates and weighs the potential benefits against the consequences and then decides that the benefit outweighs the potential outcome. There are theories beyond rational theory that we know that these criminals are rational and that their behavior can be controlled or even avoided by fear of punishment. The situational crime control is a theory that state that desperate people may think about crime but only irrational would attack a well-defended, an unreachable target and ultimately risk strict punishment. Crime prevention is reached by reducing the open opportunities people may have to commit particular crimes. The situational crime prevention is focused on the criminal acts being avoided...
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