preview

Research Paper On Jack The Ripper Criminal Procedure

Better Essays

Jack the Ripper: Criminal Procedure
Part A
There is a considerable degree of mismatch in the legal institutions in the United States and the United Kingdom insofar as criminal procedure is concerned. While both systems seek to maintain law and order through the use of criminal law courts, they adopt different methodologies to accomplish the same. Despite these differences, the criminal procedure codes of the United States and United Kingdom are integral to the sustenance of notions of justice in each respective polity (Langbein, 1995). The criminal procedure code of the United States heavily borrows from the common law doctrines established in the United Kingdom and passed down to the United States as received law during the colonial era. Criminal cases in the United Kingdom are mostly commenced in Magistrates’ court. The trial procedure is the same in trials held at the Magistrates’ court level and other higher courts, including in cases of summary offenses as well as those against the Crown.
Firstly, the United Kingdom conducts a pretrial review of the prosecution’s evidence before the actual trial is commenced. Such reviews are important because they help resolve some of the legal issues that ought to be sorted out before the trial proper begins. At this stage, the court may make a ruling on the issues raised if it serves the ends of justice to do so. The trial begins when the charges are read to the defendant. At this juncture, the defendant is expected to take a plea.

Get Access