The Criminal Justice System
In this project, you will conduct one of the following: practitioner interview, criminal court visit, police ride-along, or correctional facility visit. NOTE: If you believe it is impossible for you to complete any of these experiential exercises due to circumstances beyond your control, contact your instructor who will arrange for an alternative project.
Practitioner Interview
Your task is to interview an individual of your choice involved in the criminal justice system: a police officer, attorney, judge, probation officer, researcher, current or former inmate, etc. (Note: Military personnel have the option of interviewing an equivalent person in the military.) Should your "expert" not be listed here, contact your instructor.
1) Provide the purpose of the paper and background information on the selected person.
2) Record the person's views on the criminal justice system—whether the criminal justice system works, in what ways it doesn't work, and the future of the criminal justice system.
3) Write the paper in a narrative format, detailing what you learned as the result of speaking with this person. Do not submit a "question-answer" paper.
4) Compare and contrast what your person says with relevant sections/chapters of the text. Outside sources are encouraged.
5) When using the text or other sources properly document and reference them.
The Criminal Justice System
Name:
Institution:
The U.S. Criminal Justice System
I was able to meet a legal researcher through my father’s friend who agreed to a 2 hour interview with him concerning his findings and thoughts on the U.S. Criminal Justice System. My respondent is called Denis N. Simmons and works in the capacity of an operation manager in a private research firm located in Boylston Street, Boston. The firm concentrates in conducting field research from citizens on various issues of the government and providing poll analysis through the Media. The address for the research firm is 607 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02116 while their telephone is (617) 369-9977. Since the firm is so close to my house, I spent most of the day at the firm before finally securing an interview with Mr. Simmons from 2.30 pm to 4.50 pm.
I had two major questions for Mr. Simmons;
1 Can you please describe the structure and role of The Criminal Justice System in the United States?
2 How is the current situation in our Criminal Justice System and what are your opinions about this situation?
Mr. Simmons answer to the first quest was quite detailed which helped me to understand the structure of the Criminal Justice System. The police, the courts and corrections are the three components that form the criminal justice in the United States. These components follow each other. The purpose of the criminal justice system is to take law violators and giving them reasonable punishment for their actions. The system is meant to ensure that justice is ensued by providing punishment as a consequence of crimes committed. Not only does the system punish law offenders, but it also has the mandate of protecting the innocent as well as providing justice to offenders because they also have rights that should be observed
(The Criminal Justice System, 2013).
The researcher also helped me to understand the meaning of various legal terminologies. First the term crime is referred as the conduct that violates the laws of a local jurisdiction, a federal government or the State. Justice refers to the fairness or the principle of moral equity (Crime and Criminology, 2010). The insight that I received is that law and crime are intertwined such that the two will always go hand in hand no matter how one looks at it. This means that when crime has been committed, there is a 100% chance that a violation of law took place.
According to our criminal justice system, the police is the first component that responds after a crime has happened. The police enforce law by conducting an investigation and making arrests. This is aimed at providing the next component in this case the courts with sufficient evidence to prosecute and make fair judgments. After a crime has been committed, investigation has to be done (Webb, 2009). In many instances, the police get at the scene of a crime immediately and makes arrests of the suspected offenders before they can go to exile. However, the police are required to gather sufficient evidence so to arrest and book the suspected offenders. When the police make the arrests, they are compulsorily required to read the Miranda rights of the person whom they are arresting. The booking process is composed of taking the finger prints of the suspected offender, taking picture of the body from every angle including tattoos if any, recording personal information of the offender before giving them a form to sign which contains a detailed record of the crime committed.
The first court appearance involves the defendant appearing in court before a judge who advises them on the charges they are being accused of. The judge also reads the Miranda rights to the criminal in questions and may provide bail. Where bail is granted and the defense is able to post, a future date of court appearing is given. If an opportunity for bail is not granted or the offender in question is unable to post, the individual is put in custody waiting for the second appearing in court. The next step involves preliminary hearing where a confirmation is made that sufficient evidence against the offender in question is available to charge the offender
(Webb, 2009). It is here that the judge makes the decision that probable cause for charges is available to be brought against the person being accused. The judge has to be convinced that a crime was committed and that the accused participated in committing that crime either directly or indirectly.
In the case where the outcome is that the criminal in question will not be charged with the crime they are being accused of, the prosecutor is prompted to file information with the particular court. Incase information cannot be filed, then an indictment by a grand jury must be returned. The grand jury must also decide on whether probable cause for charges exists to continue with the charges. In the case where the defendant is charged, then another date is provided when the defendant has to appear before the court (Schulam, ...