Criminal Justice

Criminal Justice

A criminal justice system consists of the social and legal institutions that enforce the criminal law in confirmation to the defined procedures, limitations and rules. In the U.S, there are separate state, military and federal criminal justice systems. Each of the states has separate systems for juveniles and adults. This system also consist of subsystems which comprises of either one or more of the public institutions and their staff members which include police and agencies responsible for enforcing laws. The responsibility even lies on appellate and trial courts, public and prosecution defender offices; parole and probation agencies; custodial institutions and departments responsible for all the functions.

Historty of Policing

Policing has taken many forms historically and has gone through radical transformations, making it difficult to offer a precise and universal definition of the term "police." This essay employs the term broadly to mean official organs entrusted with the enforcement of law and order and endowed with the right to use force for public ends.

Throughout most of history the police were only one, and not necessarily the prevalent, instrument of law enforcement. In the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance (1300-1600) a variety of institutions and individuals performed the functions of law and order maintenance that we now associate with the institutions called "police." Moreover, the authority to sanction violence in the name of law enforcement was not the monopoly of the rulers. Life in medieval Europe was highly localized, and this was reflected in the application of power and the control of crime as well. Political sovereignty was fragmented and local authority was largely independent of royal direction. Many cities authorized special patrols and watches to protect life and property and to bar strangers from entry, particularly at night. Manorial lords often imposed their will and/or defended their rights with their own private means of coercion. Some religious institutions, such as the Inquisition, deployed their own law enforcers to attain their sectional goals. The church, universities, guilds, and corporations had their own means of implementing administrative rulings. In the relatively unified kingdom of England, a more systematic policing structure emerged, based on local lords who were appointed by the Crown as justices of the peace, and on their subordinates, the constables, who helped them keep the peace and bring malefactors to justice. Service as a constable, though unpaid, was obligatory for adult men in the parish for one year by rotation or appointment.

Criminal Justice Process

The process of criminal justice process is different among various states and the federal criminal justice system adopts their other own rules, procedures and terms. They are used during the stages of proceedings. The criminal justice process involves the following stages which will be discussed in the following paragraphs:

Investigation

An investigation carried out by a law enforcement agency for a crime may start in these ways that are: The police inspector might monitor a speeder on the highway who crossed the speed limit that was mentioned in the boards (Fitzgerald, 1981). Fire shots carried out in a ...