Victims and Crime Evaluation

The Criminal Justice system, created by governments in order to make sure that no laws are being violated and to penalize individuals that violate the laws. In the United States there are many criminal justice systems. Each system works based on their jurisdiction. For example; city, county, federal or state. Every jurisdiction is different. They all have different ways of regulating certain processes. They also have their own laws. In the criminal justice system there are two main systems; state and federal. These two systems consists of five parts; corrections, courts, prosecution, law enforcement, and defense attorneys. Each of these five parts hold an extremely important role. Prosecutions consist of prosecutors who are lawyers the represent

There are many important people that are in the court system including the prosecutor. A prosecutor is also known as a District, State, or an United

The role of the prosecutor boils down to three main goals. The prosecutor is responsible for investigating the crime committed, decide whether or not to proceed with legal proceeding, and finally, if legal proceedings are instigated to appear in court.

The Crown prosecutor is the head legal representative of the prosecution who are appointed by the crown. They are briefed by the Director of Public Prosecutions for some cases and deal with both state and federal matters.

* Although the police, judges, defense attorneys, and probation officers remain involved in specific duties, the prosecutor proves challenged in phases of the court process. Prosecutors challenge judicial decisions at times (Byrd, 2001). The office of the prosecutor proves part of the executive branch of the government. In all phases of the court process, given broad discretion, his/her job is to advocate the guilt of defendant vigorously. The prosecutors represent the people. Prosecutor screen the case. They determine if a crime has been committed. They research the crime to examine if a suspect has proved properly identified and if the evidence is sufficient to support a guilty verdict (Schmalleger, 2011).

In the American Criminal Justice System, there are four key attributes in the role of the prosecutor. There are discretion, resource dependence, sequential tasks, and filtering. The prosecutors are lawyers that are accountable for presenting criminal cases in trial. The United States Attorneys are pointed by state or government, and represent the federal government in courts. They prosecute all adults who commit felonies and juveniles who commit delinquent crimes. Conjointly, the prosecutors have further responsibilities, such as legal adviser of the country commissioners, the Board of Elections, and written admonition of the prosecutors.

In criminal cases the participants are judges, prosecutors, defense counsel, the individual person accused of committing a crime, and sometimes juries. Each person or persons has their own role to play in the dispute resolution process. The prosecutor investigates facts of crime, chooses whether or not to file charges against and what charges, and they prepare a case to prove the accused is guilty. The defense counsel plays their role by trying to reduce the charges filed by the prosecutor, reduce the sentence that the defendant could get

There can be changes in how the criminal justices process deals with rape victims; first, train all criminal justice agency professionals on the traumatic and disturbing effects of rape on the lives of its victims. Compassion for the rights of victims often leads to a more convictions and seek longer sentences. If the experience of victims in the criminal justice process is to be improved, there have to be a better understanding of the impact of victimization and of the need to treat victims of crime with courtesy, compassion, dignity, and sensitivity. There must be continual progress in raising awareness and expanding information services and assistance to victims of crime.

When they act in the role of prosecutors, DAs are usually known as prosecuting attorneys.

They are a public prosecutor elected by a county official. The district attorney is responsible for prosecuting criminal violation within a county under” California Government Code Section 26500” (SB 227).

The roles of defense attorneys and prosecutors are extremely vital and very challenging. The role of a prosecutor is to bring about justice, charge those who are responsible for the crime, and endorse an appropriate reprimand to the judge. I would say that it would very tough to be a juvenile prosecutor. A juvenile prosecutor must always keep in mind that they are prosecuting a minor and should seek rehabilitation as the first sense of justice. When prosecutors try cases involving juveniles, they are faced with unique opportunities and challenges. The role of a defense attorney in a juvenile proceeding is to represent the juvenile, act in the juvenile’s best interest, and play a role in rehabilitating the juvenile.

The Child Advocacy Center also helps with gaining protection orders, writing victim's impact statements, and filling out Crime Victim Compensation applications. Victims and their families are also referred to a variety of services in the community such as food and legal assistance, emergency housing, and counseling. The center has therapists from the University of Nebraska Psychology Department Project SAFE and Lutheran Family Services available on-site for all victims.

To begin with, the job a prosecutor has is to gather the facts of the case, along with interviewing material witnesses, and study the evidence that was collected. Next, there may be two attorneys who work the case and both should make the case hold up in court. Finally, an example of a case “where the prosecutor was unethical was when Michael B. Nifong charged Duke university lacrosse team in 2007 with sexual assault, and other crimes, although the evidence collected did not prove that they were guilty.” (pg.)

Most cities and counties in Colorado as well as across the United States have a Victims Advocate Program. These offices are staffed with trained people who care about the victim and their rights during their involvement in the criminal justice system. Their goal is to help lessen the impact of being a victim of crime or a witness to a crime, and provide information about how the court system works and the current status of their case. Remember, it is the very important for the victim to keep law enforcement that is working the case informed of any changes; keeping the lines of communication clear, open and up to date.

The victim care program is an important resource that helps victims in the criminal justice system. Refugee and immigrant victims can find it hard to deal with the criminal justice system in the United States. This program is designed to assists these individuals in the court system. This paper will focus on the Victim Care Program in Fort Wayne. An evaluation of this program is aimed at understanding its role and effectiveness. The data provides by Victim Care Program will help to evaluate the worth of the program. Understanding these roles will help to create recommendations that can help to improve service delivery in its operations.