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French and American Criminal Justice Systems Essay

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French and American Criminal Justice Systems

There many different criminal justice systems in the world today. Some that consists of many of the same policies and some that are considerably different. In the case of France and the U.S. there are a lot of similarities, but I will be focusing on the differences between each of their systems. The aspects that I will be comparing are police, courts, the legal profession, legal education, criminal procedural law, corrections, and juvenile justice and the advantages and disadvantages of each.

The policing system in France is a lot different than the one in the U.S. In France there is one big centralized police system run by the government. Unlike the fragmented police model, which is …show more content…

In France they have the Constitutional council which has nine members serving a nine year term, they are responsible for election complaints and the legislation made in parliament. The advantage of this is that it reduces the conflict of jurisdictions. But the disadvantage is that our Supreme Court has a longer term than the Constitutional Council which allows more constant laws and fewer laws that will contradict each other.

The aspect of legal profession and legal education is also extremely different. To become a judge in France you must first obtain a law degree from a university law school. Next you must gain admission to the National School for the Judiciary at Bordeaux (Terrill 236). After completing this school, the candidate is now qualified to become a judge. The French system allows judges to begin their profession at an early age which could be a disadvantage because of lack of experience in the system, where judges in the United States are usually older and more knowledgeable.

The legal education is noticeably different from America. In France, students enter a university when they are approximately 18 years old, after they have completed their high school education with an award of the baccalaureate diploma (Terrill 242). In America you must go through undergraduate and graduate law school, and then pass the bar in order to get your law degree. It’s an advantage because students in France start their career a

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