American Criminal Justice System Research Paper

The Criminal Justice System is a set of legal and social institutions used to enforce a defined set of rules limitations (3). This system in the United States is divided into three subsections: Federal, State, and Military. Each state's criminal justice department is then divided again into separate juvenile and adult systems (3). The system begins when the crime is committed and observed which leads to an investigation and arrest here the accused enters the system. The first step is after the arrest is made the criminal is held in jail until they can go to Criminal court, this usually happens within twenty four hours of the arrest unless it’s a weekend. In that case the trial will be held on Monday. While the prisoner is waiting for trial they get brought to central booking where their fingerprints and photograph are taken. At this time

Fred is drunk and driving his dad’s car. Fred is a 21 year old student at Columbia College. Fred rams into a parked car at 10th and Rogers. Thinking no one saw him; Fred moves his car and parks it on an adjacent lot. He sprints to his dorm room in Miller Hall. A neighbor saw the wreck and Fred running to the dorm. Police are called and they arrive ten minutes after the wreck. The officers see several empty beer cans and a bottle of tequila (half full) in the front seat. The tags are traced to Fred’s dad, who is called by police. Dad says that Fred is a student at Columbia College. Police run Fred's record and determine that he has two prior DWIs within the past five years. The third DWI in 10 years is a felony. Police contact

In this stage, a member of the district attorney’s office would take over the case from a prosecution standpoint. Additionally, the defendant’s lawyer will now be involved with the future events of the case. It is during the judicial stage that the case can be dealt with via plea deals, guilty plea, pretrial diversion, or retirement of charges. The results of this particular stage dictate the future direction of the incident such as a preliminary hearing, grand jury indictment, and circuit court trial (Bohm & Haley, 2014). Should there be a trail and the suspect is found not guilty, the suspect is now free to go. On the other hand, should the verdict of the trial result in a guilty verdict the accused is now sentenced to either probation, time served, community service, jail or correctional facility time. Furthermore, there is an appellate process that a convicted individual can request to file (The Criminal Justice Process,

The police are termed as the gatekeepers of the criminal justice system. The police are at the first point of contact between an individual and the criminal justice system. The police will first appear on the scene when an individual is deemed to have run afoul of the law. This could be via a minor infraction of the law, legally termed as a misdemeanor or a major infraction of the law that could be anything from a white collar crime to a capital offense. Regardless of the infraction in question, it is not the job of the police to determine the guilt or innocence of the individual. That is the work of the second component of the criminal justice system, the

The offender will be arrested and booked into jail until hearing or they may also be eligible to be bailed out until the trial. They may depending on their history can be released on their own recognition. In fact, “A criminal trial is the examination in court of issues of fact and law in a case for the

2. Accused sent to jail or released on bail: If a person is arrested and he does not pay bail, he will have to go to jail or prison until his trial. This can last anywhere up to one week, to a month depending on the court's docket. If a person pays out bail they give the court the money, and when they show up for court they give that money back.

If the accused was said to be guilty, they have to serve their time. Depending on how bad the crime was, the accused might go to jail forever. In some parts of the world, “the criminal” might get the death penalty. Maybe ten years later, someone might go back to the case and prove that the “criminal” wasn’t guilty. If someone disproved the guilty verdict, they might release the “criminal.”

The legal process is very lengthy, but it attempts to ensure that the guilty, and innocent are treated in justifiable ways. Whom ever is charged stands in a trial, within reasonable time, with either a judge, jury, or both. If guilty, they are sent to a correctional facility in which they will serve the sentence stated by the judge, jury, or both. After their sentencing, they are released back into society. They can apply for an probationary release if they have been considered not to be a threat in the community, or to the lives of others. If innocent, the legal process can cause stress and worry about being wrongfully convicted for a crime one did not commit. If found innocent, the defendant is released immediately, and can go back to their families because noone would want to see an innocent person go through so much over something that they didn’t even do. It is exceptionally hard to try to judge a case with little, or no evidence, and this is usually the case with trials with a wrongful conviction. It is even more difficult to judge a trial of someone who are labelled as criminally insane. Criminally insane refers to the state of mind the defendant was in during the time of the criminal act. However these laws do not apply, for the most part, to those who are found unfit to stand trial, and they undergo a process of their own. During this process their innocence, or guilt becomes unclear, and the victims may begin to feel as though justice has not been done. In the

Many people may have a lot of concerns of what may happen when they are charged for a crime and what may happen next if they are convicted. When people get arrested it is scary due to the fact of not knowing what may happen to you or what steps to take if you are convicted.

First of all the criminal justice system is composed of agencies and processes established by government to control crime and enforce punishments on those who break laws. How the criminal justice system works in every capacity varies on the jurisdiction that is in charge be it, city, county, state, or federal. Different jurisdictions have different regulations, agencies and techniques of handling the criminal justice processes. The main systems include, state (state criminal justice systems deal with crimes committed in the states boundaries) and federal (the federal criminal justice system deals with crimes committed on federal property or in more than one state). Now, most criminal justice systems have five components, which often include;

Law enforcement agencies are our first line of defense in protecting society from the effects of crime. Numerous strategies law enforcement agencies utilize across the United States to control crime, some demonstrated effectiveness while others were refuted or unsubstantiated. Controlling crime encompasses a combination of strategies rather than a single strategy.

Upon identifying the specific charges, the prosecutor will indict the defendant with a felony specific to the crime that was committed and the defendant will be entitled to a preliminary hearing or arraignment to discuss the charge(s) that are being filed against the

When a crime is committed, the offender is taken to court where a judge will determine if the offender is innocent or guilty. If the offender is found guilty, the penalties may include the following; community service, a fine, or incarceration for a certain amount of time depending on the severity of the crime committed. The purpose of the Canadian prison system is to serve justice to both society, and the law breaker. Justice is served to society by punishing criminals with isolation from society at large. The criminal is served justice through receiving rehabilitation in order to successfully reintegrate into society, once released from incarceration. The focus of Canadian prisons should first be in rehabilitating its inmates, and punishment should be its secondary focus. However, punishment seems to be the prime focus and prison sentences have become more of a standard solution, rather than an option. Simply because it is easier and more effective.

If the prosecutor finds there is sufficient evidence available the suspect is charged, arrested, and completes the booking process. Once charged the suspect is identified as the defendant in proceeding introduced to the lower courts (pretrial) and is formally charged with the

The guilt of the defendant must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. If the defendant is convicted, they may sentence him or her up to imprisonment or pay a fine. Criminal Court starts when the public prosecutor files petition.