Criminal Justice System
Criminal Justice System
Introduction
Criminal justice changes in rules, procedures, and terms from state to state. However, the punishment exercised on criminals cannot vary from the standards established by the United States. A crime is classified as an act that violates the federal laws of America. Consequently, all the violations are subject to different severities of punishment. Crimes in particular can be as minimal as a traffic violation and become as severe as homicide. The severity of the crime will determine the severity of the punishment. The criminal justice system is designed in order to standardize a level of punishment to appropriately fit ...view middle of the document...
The judge, who acts as the facilitor, reads the charges to the defendant and obtains a guilty or innocent plea from him/her. In the case that the defendant pleads guilty, the case proceeds to sentencing directly because the criminal has already confessed to the crime. In the case that the defendant pleads not guilty, the defendant then proceeds to plead his/her case in front of a jury, presecutor and then the judge makes the final verdict. The jury ultimately decides whether the defendand is innocent or guilty based on the evidence, witnesses, and facts. Once the jury makes a decision, the judge then determines the punishment for the defendant based on the crime. Finally, the last element is corrections. Depending on the punishment, the defendant could face jail time or maybe probation for a given amount of years. Furthermore, defendents that are sentenced to probation which violate that punishment are then sentenced directly to prison.
The procedure for alleged or suspected criminals follows three basic components of the criminall justice system. The criminal justice process differentiates in every given state, in addition, law enforcement agencies also exercise different strategies. Regardless, the foundation of the process is derived from the Consitution of America, all states included, and there general procedures to follow the criminal justice process. The primary step in the process involves investigation. Investigate begins with accusations of acts such as driving under the influence, fraudulent activity, and/or basic neighbor complaints. Second, based on the results from the investigation, the police will proceed to make arrests. However, there is legal procedures that the police must take before simply making an arrest. For example, a police officer must obtain a search warrant in order to gather evidence and access their property. Police officers need to gather enough data in order to provide support of the suspect actually committing the crime. There is actually some circumstances which are exigent and the investigation leads directly to an arrest. The third element is the written complaint that initiates the criminal justice process. A complaint are criminal charges in...
