In Philadelphia, just blocks from where, both, the United States Declaration of Independence and Constitution were debated and ratified, sits the Juanita Kidd Stout Center for Criminal Justice (hereinafter C.J.C.). Unfortunately, somehow in those few blocks, or many years, our sense of justice and fairness were lost.
On Friday, March 23, 2017, I observed activities at the C.J.C. from 8:05 a.m. till 12:30 p.m. I had opportunities to view Magistrate Rice preside over bail hearings, Judge Thomas Gerhet preside over a trial and conduct ‘Drug Court’ progress hearings, and Judge Frank Palumbo conduct probation hearings. Although, I witnessed over 26 different hearings, due to assignment constraints this paper will focus largely on one case and
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I apologized and informed her I was a student from Kline.
Subsequently, the public defender returned her attention to the current case before the court, where a defendant, Ms. Alias, was accused of aggravated assault, simple assault, and conspiracy. Alias lives with her ex-girlfriend, the complainant. The magistrate talked with Alias and then said “$5000 S.O.B.” and ordered her to stay away from the complainant and the house they share. Immediately, Alias complained, but not about the money or that she did not understand “S.O.B.”. Sadly, Alias exclaimed, “my children live there”! After talking with Alias, the magistrate told the prosecutor, “I am going to do this my way,” noting that the three young children need their mother and to be in their home. The prosecutor immediately picked up the phone, to which the judge responded, “I don’t care if you are going to appeal.” The prosecutor then told the officers to “hold the defendant pending appeal by the district attorney’s office.” The magistrate called the next case. A few minutes later, the prosecutor interrupted the magistrate to say, “no appeal will be file.” Alias was then brought back on the C.C.T.V. and informed that she could return to her home, but was not to talk or have physical contact with the complainant.
I appreciated the magistrate’s concern for the defendant’s children, but was
This following paper is on contemporary challenges for the criminal justice administrator and will focus on the courts area. The major issues and satisfactions of this particular role will be described also. Also the questions of whether or not this course has helped prepare me will be discussed as well.
The criminal trial process aims to provide justice for all those involved, while it succeeds in the majority of cases, it effectiveness is influenced and reduced by certain factors. These include the legal representation involved in a case and the availability of legal aid, the capacity of the jury assessing the trial, the credibility of scientific evidence and the impact of social media on the trial process. Due to such flaws the criminal trial process is not always an effective means of achieving justice.
It was a gloomy Tuesday morning in Camden on March 18, 2014. Spring break had just began and the free time to do the court observation. The Superior Court of New Jersey had begun a civil action court case that was fairly controversial over how to distribute ones pension to their spouse when filing a divorce. When arriving upon the court house, the whole entire environment surrounding the court was very authoritarian. It seems that the court rooms and such are always located where most of the town’s governing takes place, whether it is just a municipal court, or the superior court just as this one. Before arriving, the presumption was that the court house would like every other court house, big building with large marble stone pillars in
In America we have an Adversary System of Justice, which means that criminal trials proceed under the adversary theory of justice to arrive at the truth in a given case. One characteristic of this system is intensive cross-examination of both defense and prosecution witnesses. In a jury trial, it is for the jury, which observes these witnesses, to weigh the evidence and make the ultimate decision in every case—guilty or not guilty. However, not every case makes it to trial in fact, about 80% of defendants plead guilty allowing them to just be sentenced and not have to go through the whole process of a trial. Other cases are dropped, or dismissed if the prosecutor, or in some cases a grand jury, feels that there is insufficient evidence to carry on. Some defendants are sent to diversion programs, these individuals are often sent here because an official involved in the case believes that there is a better way to deal with a defendant than to prosecute them.
The criminal trial process is an interesting process that takes place in Courtrooms all across the United States and throughout the globe. This study intends to set out the various steps in the criminal trial process in the American justice system. A trial is described as a "legal forum for resolving individual disputes, and in the case of a criminal charge, it is a means for establishing whether an accused person is legally guilty of an offense. The trial process varies with respect to whether the matter at issue is civil in nature or criminal. In either case, a jury acts as a fact-finding body for the court in assessing information and evidence that is presented by the respective parties in a case. A judge presides over the court and addresses all the legal issues that arise during the trial. A judge also instructs the jury how to apply the facts to the laws that will govern in a given case." (3rd Judicial District, 2012)
Identify what issues the judge would take into consideration when setting bond for John. When John goes before the judge has been informed of the formal charges there are many factors to take into account when the judge decides on the bond amounts, criminal records, past history of appearance for court dates, ties to the community, and he is a danger to others. Study bail.
Well, a defense is entitled to request an evidentiary hearing at the time of sentencing, but you do have to give notice of that if you wanted to present testimony at the time of the sentencing.
There are numerous factors in a courtroom trial that can significantly affect the verdict reached by jurors and can potentially influence whether the perpetrator of crime is ultimately convicted or is acquitted. In this essay I will explore several of these factors including how the personal characteristics of the defendant (e.g. attractiveness, gender and race) persuasion techniques (e.g. order of testimony) and jury characteristics can determine the conviction of a criminal.
The basic division in the structure of criminal courts is between the lower criminal courts – the local courts, Children’s court and Coroner’s court – and the higher criminal courts – the District Court and the Supreme Court. In observing proceedings at the Local, District and Supreme Courts over a period of three days a number of aspects of the criminal justice system were made apparent. The administration, processes and practices of the criminal trial are extremely varied dependent upon the level of criminal court being observed. The distinctions between the workings of the two courts revealed a number of the differences between summary proceedings and trial upon indictment. The cases observed served to
The purpose of a pretrial hearing is to see if the involving parties are able to resolve specific issues of the case. In a typical setting, these pretrial hearings are attended by the judge, plaintiff, defendant, lawyers involved and sometimes other parties. A lot of things are involved during this step of the case. Most evidence is introduced at this time, but evidence can still be brought up at later phases during the case. Ultimately, this phase determines where the case is going to go whether it will be resolved by the deal, rescheduled, dismissed, additional hearings or forced to trial. Some perks to conducting a pretrial hearing is to expedite the disposition of the case and even improve the quality of the actual trial through preparation.
My name is Md Kalim Uddin. I went to observe a misdemeanor case in borrow Queens County, Kew Garden Supreme court on Nov 20, 2017, at 10:00 am with my fellow classmate Rochelle. Inside the Supreme court, we went to the room number part Ap-4. It was my first time to observe a misdemeanor case. I was eagerly waiting for this moment. The judge was a female and her name was DB Aziz. It was a curious moment for me and what I have observed was very interesting but on the the time also was emotionally upsetting.
The idea of having a criminal law, procedure and a proper court system has been a concern and must in the United States since it was first founded. This concept is always under consistent speculation and undergoes changes almost every year. One of the most influential pieces included into the procedure of criminal law and the court system is the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights was created by the representatives of America to not only enforce the idea of substantive law, but also create a framework for the rights of every day Americans. Ever since the creation of the Bill of Rights, there has been a constant need for change laws and procedures in order to accommodate for rights given to each citizen. In this paper, the analysis of the
Now we come to the importance of a fair trial and due process in the criminal justice system; it is rather surprising that the Sharia Law does not have a due process or trial procedure. According to the V, VI, and VII Amendments, all people shall be granted justice regardless of their religion or gender (Cotran and Adel, 1999). Amendment V specifically mentions that no one should be held responsible for a crime when the due process of the law has not been followed. Similarly, Amendment VI provides the room for public trial while Amendment VII guarantees trial by jury. All these amendments are checks and balances for the united States criminal justice system, to ensure that no one is punished unfairly for crimes they did not commit and that
It was observed in Ms Chapman’s diversion hearing that the ARC division operates as a ‘problem-solving court’ in which greater focus is placed onto the problems of offenders and their possible solutions. Given that one of the principle aims of the ARC List is to improve the health and wellbeing of accused persons with a mental impairment by facilitating access to appropriate treatment and other support services, the general environment of the hearing and of the courtroom itself was notably different to the previously mentioned cases. The judicial registrar, upon introducing the magistrate, announced that those present should “remain seated”, an action contradicting the general formality expected in a courtroom. (FN?) Furthermore, the accused
This is a report of my reflection on the court trip that my class, CLU 3M attened on May 18, 2016. This report contains my reflection on what I did that day, what I saw, and my opinion on our judicial system. In this report some of the terms that I recognized during the trips are bolded, and I have elaborated on the meanings of the terms. I will conclude this report with my opinion the court process.