Pros And Cons Of Grand Juries

The next step in the criminal justice process that the defendant would experience is grand jury indictment or a preliminary hearing to establish probable cause. Prosecutors present evidence to a grand jury without the

The court can either choose to do a preliminary hearing or grand jury for John's first appearance.. In a preliminary hearing is conducted with no jury and the judge is the fact finder. A grand jury hearing is where the prosecution presents the case to a group of citizens outside the presence of the defendant and they (the grand jurors) are asked to determine whether probable cause exists based on the evidence presented to them by the prosecution.

This list, preparation of which is laid out in detail in CH 6:53 S 10 (the Jury Act) is complied from information collected from

The criminal justice system is a used to protect our society from those who try to harm it. Departments such as courts, and police officers study the behavior of criminals; they want our communities to be safe. When a crime is committed these departments work together to protect the rights of our society and our own. As stated in the textbook, a crime is the “Conduct in violation of the criminal laws of a state, the federal government, or a local jurisdiction for which there is no legally acceptable justification or excuse” (Schmalleger). Our system is a balanced system, there are times where have to think about our own rights as one person, but there are also times where we have to include other people. We must think of our society and

The criminal justice system has been proven to play a very important role in society. The criminal justice system is used to keep the citizens in check and to make sure that the laws that are made are being followed. It also is there to penalize anyone who disobeys the laws. In the criminal justice system, there are 3 main parts, law enforcement, adjudication, and corrections. Law enforcement is self-explainable. It consists of the law enforcers such as police officers and sheriffs. Adjudication is made up of people in the court house such as judges and lawyers. Corrections is made up of jailhouse matters such as prison officials. In these many components of the criminal justice system, there are all put in place to help correct people to do the right thing. There are punitive efforts and rehabilitative efforts. At time, the system may lean towards one category or more, which can be dangerous in terms of disciplinary action. The criminal justice system is more punitive than rehabilitative which makes the system ineffective.

The grand jury is a pre-protected customary law organization, and an established apparatus in its own privilege only grasping custom-based law. The procedure applies to the states to the degree that the states have consolidated fantastic juries or potentially customary law. Most states have an option common process. "In spite of the fact that state frameworks of criminal methodology vary enormously among themselves, the great jury is correspondingly ensured by many

There are several cases that have gone through the United States Supreme Court where prosecutors have not disclosed evidence to the defense, that could in turn help the defense’s case such as in the case of

In a normal Missouri trial the grand jury usual meets for a day. In Officer Wilsons trial the prosecutor did not bring charges against Officer Wilson, In a typical trial the prosecutor usually suggests or recommends what charges to bring against the defendant. In Officer Wilson trial he was allowed hours of personal testimony, versus a regular trial where personal testimony isn’t

The preliminary hearing is then held which determines if the prosecution obtained enough evidence and has enough probable cause to hold a trial (Schmalleger, 2008). Discovery, which refers to the first time the defense is allowed to view the evidence against the accused occurs at this stage (Schmalleger, 2008). The next step is arraignment; this is the first time the defendant is seen by a judge with enough authority to hold a trial (Schmalleger, 2008). At arraignment, the indictment against the accused is read; the accused enters a plea of either guilty, not guilty or no contest (Schmalleger, 2008). The last step involving the court is adjudication, which plainly means a trial by jury (Schmalleger, 2008). The trial then proceeds until both sides have presented their case and the jury reaches a decision (Schmalleger, 2008). If the jury cannot reach a decision the judge can declare a mistrial and the case can be retried (Schmalleger, 2008). If the accused waives the right to a trial by jury, the court will hold a bench trial which is a trial conducted and decided upon by the judge (Schmalleger, 2008).

In America’s justice system, a grand jury is a group of citizens called to decide whether probable cause exists to believe that a suspect committed the crime with which she or he has been charged (Gaines G-4). In the Central District of California, prospective jurors who report and are not excused or postponed, the Jury Clerk will use a computer program to randomly select 23 members and ten alternates for each grand jury. A grand jury designated “investigatory” meet for a 12-month term, while a grand jury designated “accusatory” meets for a 6-month term. A grand jury has 23 members and meets once a week, always on the same weekday. Grand juries do not meet on weekends or Mondays. The average workday is 5 hours. Absences for medical appointments, vacations, graduations, etc. may be accommodated, but 16 members must be present for the grand jury to conduct business. The grand jury serves the United States District Court, Central District of California. In contrast, a trial jury is asked to reach a verdict based on the evidence presented during a civil or criminal trial; a grand jury meets in secret to consider whether there is sufficient evidence to justify a formal criminal charge against someone. That formal criminal charge is called an “indictment” (Central).

The major upside to having professional jurors is that they would be more likely to deliver good verdicts. In our current system, people are asked to understand the law without any training. They are given brief instructions by judges after a very long trial and then expected to apply complex laws. We should not expect jurors to understand those laws based on one short lecture from a judge. Therefore, having professional jurors would give us better verdicts more clearly based on the law. On the other hand, the bad part of this is the loss of citizen contribution. Jury trials exist so that common people can have an influence on the legal system. Our Founding Fathers did not want Americans to be tried and judged by legal privileged who

1. When being a prosecutor one must be un-biased despite if they already made up their mind that the accused is guilty. Therefore, we have a saying that all courts and law enforcements should abide by, which is “everyone is innocent until proven guilty.” The prosecutor’s job is to collect evidence that he or she may provide to the court to prove if the defendant is innocent or guilty.

In the Australian legal system, juries have been the subject of debate for many years. Should we have them for criminal trials or will justice be done better through trial by judge alone?

The trial process begins with the selection of the jury. After the jury is selected the next stage is the opening statements. Since the prosecution has the burden of proof as to the defendant 's guilt, the prosecutor 's opening statement is given first. An

Twelve heads are better than one. So having a jury provides a much better view and more opinions on the person being accused