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The United States Criminal Justice System

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The United States criminal justice system is essential to the functioning of American society. A central component to the criminal justice system in our country is the U.S. courts. The U.S. courts uphold those rights guaranteed to U.S. citizens under the Constitution while also enforcing the laws and precedents set forth by the United States government. Over the course of the last several months I have been given the opportunity to sit in and observe the workings and proceedings that take place in The Dutchess County Courthouse. The Judge whose courtroom I observed in over the course my internship was Justice Stephen Greller. Justice Greller was elected to the bench in 1985 and is currently serving his 30th year as a Judge. Needless …show more content…

The majority of my observation involved Justice Greller and his adjudication duties, which included hearing plea bargains, hearing motions, sentencing defendants, and conducting the various types of court hearings. The next category is negotiation, in which the judge attempts to resolve cases without formal adjudication by encouraging the parties to reach settlements. The courtroom workgroup consists of the Prosecutor, Defense Attorney, Judge and Probation officer. During my internship I was able to sit in on the court conferences between the courtroom work group and observe how they come to agreements through negotiation. A great number of cases are decided through settlements before they even reach trial. In criminal cases this often means that the case will be resolved by a plea bargain before it has to go to trial. The third category is the administration aspect of the job. In trial courtrooms as was the one I observed in, the individual judges and their staffs largely run their own courtroom. This administrative work entails the paperwork and scheduling of the cases brought before the court.” (Baum, 2013). The criminal calendar dictates what cases are on the docket for the day and what court proceedings will be taking place. The majority of my internship entailed the observation of court proceedings and different parts of the trial process. Through my observation I was able to further build

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