The Legal System

Imagine you are the director of health information services for a medium-sized health care facility. Like many of your peers, you have contracted with an outside copying service to handle all requests for release of patient health information at your facility. You have learned that a lobbying organization for trial attorneys in your state is promoting legislation to place a cap on photocopying costs, which is significantly below the actual costs incurred as part of the contract. (Case Study, p. 20)

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 courts play a huge role in the criminal justice system. The dual court system of the United States (U.S.) was established through the U.S. constitution. The court systems have a multiple purposes and elements of court. Federal and state court system is what makes up the dual court system of the U.S. Today the U.S. court system is what it is today because of previous legal codes, common law, and the precedent it played in the past. Making the U.S. court system a vital role in the criminal justice system..

In what ways is the indigenous justice paradigm in conflict with the principles of the traditional, adversarial American criminal justice system? In what ways do the principles of Native American justice complement more mainstream correctional initiatives?

“The court finds you guilty on all accounts. You are sentenced to 35 years in federal prison. Court dismissed.” If only justice in America was the same as a hollywood movie, where, in the end, each and every person put on trial receives a true and just verdict. It would be nice if America’s justice system was designed so that “you couldn’t be the next victim of corruption - innocent and sent to prison, or strapped to a table and put to death; or robbed of your life savings by American lawyers” (Sachs, America’s Corrupt Legal). Welcome to the new America, where all it takes is pockets as deep as the Pacific Ocean to be innocent and poverty to be found guilty, thrown in jail, and not given a second thought. Although America often prides itself on its just ways of governing and dealing with potential criminals, the justice system is often corrupted because of social issues, ethical issues, corrupt officials, and control of the press.

This occurs prior to the official trial and will often determine whether the suspect will be detained with or without bail. “The Judge must make sure the accused understands the charges, explain the rights the accused has in the particular situation the accused is in, explain the type of sentence and penalty the accused faces, and will discuss bail, release, or custody with the accused.” (The Law Dictionary, n.d.) During this step of the criminal justice process, the defendant has the right to receive adequate representation. After some time, the suspect will face the judge again during the actual trial. When the trial begins, the prosecution and defense will present their opening statement to the jury. This process is meant to be an opportunity for each party to give an overview of the case and the means in which they intend to present the case. A key point regarding the opening statement is it cannot be considered as evidence by the jury. Evidence will be presented by both parties and thoroughly examined by the jury. Towards the end of the trial, the prosecution and defense will give their closing arguments. This is a summary of the case and presented in a manner to show support for their side of the case. During this step of the criminal justice process, the defendant has the right to a public trial, a jury trial, a speedy trial, and to be represented by an attorney. A

In the criminal justice system there is very rarely a single linchpin that can be pointed to and held responsible for the failure to convict a seemingly guilty person. This reigns true for the very public prosecutions of both Casey Anthony and George Zimmerman. In the eyes of a vast majority of the public, fueled by media spectacle and opinion, Anthony and Zimmerman were guilty even before they ever saw the inside of a courtroom. There simply could be no other answer. The public was subsequently outraged when, after what seemed to be trials of certainty, juries acquitted each. The public sought to find someone, or something to blame. The verdict could not be accepted and many turned their focus to condemn the workings of the criminal

In the United States of America, there is a system referred to as the criminal justice system. This system assists in managing crime and helps to control society through rules and regulations. If these guidelines are disobeyed, there are consequences that follow. These consequences consist of being arrested by law enforcement, going to court to pay a fine or to be sentenced, and even going to jail or prison (Bohm & Haley, 2014).

The first step is the order of an arrest warrant that is issued by a judge. The warrant gives the police the authority to arrest a person that is accused of a crime. After forty-eight hours of a person being arrested, he or she is arraigned- which means that their bond is set in jail and a preliminary hearing is scheduled later. Typically, between four to six weeks after a crime has occurred a preliminary hearing is held. The VWAP office notifies the victim and witnesses of the preliminary trial. During the preliminary trial, the judge listens to the testimony of the arresting office to determine if there is probable cause. If there is the is bound over to state court. When the case is bounded over to state court a formal arraignment is taken place in the judge’s chambers. There the charges are formally read to the accused and the defendant pleads either guilty or not guilty. If the defendant pleads guilty the judge may sentence he or she there. If the defendant pleads not guilty a trial is scheduled. The defendant may choose to have a bench or jury trial. A bench trial is when the judge without a jury hears all the testimonies from witnesses, victims, police officers and sometimes defendant. If the judge finds the defendant guilty, he or she may choose to impose a sentence at once or later. If the defendant decides to have a jury trial then his or her trial will be heard in front of a panel of six jurists. If the jurist

By and large, the appropriation of the case administration layout for a court system can have numerous positive and negative impacts. As the chairperson of a court with 50 workers, the expansion of caseloads has turned into a prevention of productive work. A positive angle for this surprising increase in the amount of cases could evolve into new additional duties for the court system itself. Despite the fact that the immediate benefits of this case administration framework are rare, they have a tendency to become more apparent when the system has been set up for some time. The issue with a longer usage time is that system itself tends to be slow to change. Thus when something has been the standard for quite a while, an orderly change is hard. The negative impact of this case management system is the deficient precautionary measures taken when caseloads get to be overpowering. The case management system combined with a 50 man court framework has turned out to be a disappointment after some time, and the pattern is deteriorating. With the case documenting multiplying in the previous seven years, it is vital that something is done to diminish the effect of being overpowered. Case management has made judges reconsider their present system in dealing with the courts (Peak, 2010).

There is no doubt that America’s history in the justice system has been a complete rollercoaster. The U.S. court system, has developed major changes implementing the law due to impermanentvalues and morals; changes in which shape the system we enforce today. Although the outcome always outway the process of how laws come into place, it is important to press knowledge into newer generations about what and who is responsible for these drastic changes. Sadly, many key leaders and events seem to be forgotten when there is no memorial or monument to reflect their impact within the justice system. Memorializing keyleaders and events is important in helping not only their impact stay alive, but shape the direction the justice system will go in the

The American criminal law system has made a dramatic change over the last few decades. We have seen the overturning of some huge landmark cases dealing with human rights. These cases still have a lasting impact in our society today. In terms of the sentencing for convicted felons, the shift has been more from indeterminate sentencing to determinate sentencing. Indeterminate was thought of as a process of rehabilitation for offenders. The shift to determinate sentencing was a more aggressive approach to the crime in American. The justice system itself has a lot of work to be done especially with received between the black community and the police of America. This is a huge problem facing our country right now; most can say this can be our generation civil rights movement. Over the past few years there has been a series of high profile cases involving white police officers and African American people, resulting in the death of African Americans. There has been intense outrage in the community because it is being portrayed as black lives don’t matter. This has been nothing done about these criminal acts done to these police officers.

The touchstone of our criminal justice system must be reasonableness. The rights of the accused are enumerated in our country's founding document and have become a bedrock of our criminal justice system. See U.S. Const. Amends. 4, 5, 6, & 14. E.g., Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643 (1961); Miles v. United States, 103 U.S. 304 (1880). Those fundamental rights consequently, and rightly, impose high burdens on government officials, such as police officers and prosecutors. See U.S. Const. Amend. 4 (enumerating individuals’ freedoms from unreasonable searches and seizures and setting forth the warrant requirement); Miles, 103 U.S. 304 (stating the government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt in criminal cases). However, those high burdens must not be unreasonable ones as those officials have very important duties in our society and they must be able to effectively carry out those duties in order to keep our society safe. See Michigan v. Bryant, 562 U.S. 344, 346 (2011) (articulating police

The United States court system is the institution were all the legal disputes in the american society are carryed out and resolved. However, one single court is not enough to resolve every single dispute in society and that is why the court system is made up of two different courts, the federal courts and the state courts. Moreover, the federal and state courts are made up of several divisions made to handle legal disputes differently depending on its seriousness. For example, the state court is made up of trial courts of limited jurisdiction and probate courts were cases and disputes originate and then move up to trial courts of general jurisdiction, intermediate apellate courts, and courts of last resort respectively depending on the case.In contrast, the federal court consists of district courts, territorial coutrs, tax court, court of international trade, claims court, court of veterans appeals, an courts of military review which then move on to courts of appeals respectively and may ultimately end up in the United States supreme court. In addition, cases from state court may also appeal into the federal court system but not the other way around.

In a world where no legal system or no police force exist, one will assume corruption and havoc will arise and that is exactly what will happen. With no force to prevent humans from committing crimes or selfish acts, society will crumble. Thus, why we need a legal system and police force around to enforce punishments to those who commit any wrong doings. There is a need for a higher authority to keep life from being led astray.