Criminal Justice-The Court System
1) Describe how the US court system is structured: The US court system has a dual system operating on federal and state levels. Starting at the bottom of the state level are trial courts of limited jurisdiction. These courts only handle lawsuits for small amount of money, traffic cases, and misdemeanors. The next level up is the trial courts of general offenses. The jury trial takes place and the judges can set prison sentences. The next level up at the state level is intermediate appellate courts. The courts there hear appeals of decisions of lower courts. They can let the defendant go free, or order a new trial. The last level is the state supreme courts. This is the court of all courts. All states have supreme courts. We have federal courts that are similar to the structure of the state courts beginning with district courts. This trial court is of general jurisdiction. This is when the judges get to rule on evidence and get to issue a verdict. There are 94 federal judicial districts, including at least one in every state. Then we have the circuit court of appeals. The highest level in the federal system is the Supreme Court, which oversees both court systems through interpreting the United States Constitution. Thi
15) Describe the kinds of intermediate sanctions administered in the community: Home confinement, community service, day reporting centers, and intense supervision probation. In home confinement, offenders must remain at home during specific periods of time. They may face other restrictions under probation other than house arrest. This offers a great deal of flexibility because it can be used by itself, or with other penalties. The second kind of intermediate sanctions is community service. This requires the offender to perform a certain amount of unpaid labor in the community. Many judges order community service when an offender cannot pay a fine. The next form is day reporting centers. This is a community correctional center where an offender reports each day to meet the elements of their sentence. The last one is intensive supervision probation or ISP. This was formed for dealing with offenders who need greater restrictions then community based sanctions. ISP uses probation as an intermediate form of punishments by imposing conditions of strict reporting to the officers who have limited caseloads. 5) Describe the use of discretion by prosecutors: Prosecutors have a very big range of discretion. Their decisions can be political, or personal. After the police turn the case over to the prosecutor, they have total control over the decisions made. In the US, prosecutors can have doubts about evidence. If they aren’t sure if there is not enough evidence to charge a person guilty, then they can just let the jury decide instead of dropping charges. The prosecutor also has the ability to add other charges or counts, depending on the nature of the incident. They use discretion in deciding the number of charges because the more they add, the better the chance at a plea bargain. The prosecutor does not have complete control in plea bargaining however. This is because defense lawyers have the discovery process, where the prosecution shares information that they have from the case file. Prosecutors also use discretion when recommending sentences in a guilty plea. 2) Explain the role/functions of the judge in the criminal justice system: Judges play the most important role in the criminal justice system. They are by far the most powerful, and there decisions affect the entire system. Judges have the ability to arraign defendants, sign warrants, accept guilty pleas, set bail, and schedule cases. There most important job is to instill justice and protect the right of due process for the defendant. Judges can take on three roles in the system. They can be negotiators, administrators, and adjudicators. As you can see, the judges have the most important role, and it is up to them to do their job to the fullest. s court consists of the chief justice of the U.S. and eight associate judges who hear a limited number of selected cases. We also have American trial courts. These courts are very small, and are often influenced politically and socially.
Some topics in this essay:
United Constitution,
,
criminal justice,
criminal justice system,
justice system,
Supreme Court,
plea bargaining,
trial process,
role criminal justice,
role criminal,
trial courts,
main goal,
explain role/functions,
community service,
system judges,
justice system parole,
level trial courts,
day reporting centers,
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Approximate Word count = 2266
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
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