Criminal Justice Process

Criminal Justice Process

Introduction

Criminal justice system has three components namely, the courts, correctional centers and the police. These departments are in direct control of state and local governments; however, their costs are experienced by the concerned authorities. As a matter of fact, United States spent $ 167 billion on these components of criminal justice system. However, per capita cost of the criminal justice system stood at $ 586 per person, while the federal government only participates 15% in this chunk. The criminal justice system employs 2.3 million people, among them only 9% work under the umbrella of the federal government (Hagan, 2008). Controlling crime is a complex process in democratic societies than in authoritarian societies. The concept of justice is of prime importance in democratic societies and is to be achieved by the maintenance of law and order.

Herbert Packer indicated two models of criminal justice process, the crime control model and due process model. The former focuses on suppressing the rates of crime and do not shows care of the individual rights and freedom. While the latter focuses specifically on the rights of individuals and protects innocents from false convictions (Cole et. al, 2013) The American legal system has the tinge of British common law model, which can be rooted back to the colonial period. However, the common law makes its decisions based on precedence and past decisions. The criminal justice process starts at criminal investigation and ends with the release of convicted offenders. Besides all these, the crime rates in US are still on the top of the list.

Steps & Contingencies of Criminal Justice Process

The U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights address all the rules involved in the criminal justice process. The federal rules of Criminal Procedure govern all the criminal proceeding steps involved in the United States (Brown, 2009). Following are the steps involved in criminal justice process:

Investigation

The investigation of a crime is carried out primarily by police. The idea behind the process of criminal investigations is to gather ample evidence to ascertain a suspect; it also helps to complement the arrest. However, the investigation requires a proper search and an insight of the scrutiny of a person or property. Probable cause is the benchmark of proof required for a search. Probable cause means that there are facts or possibility of facts that the evidence related to criminality be found at a particular space.

Arrest

Arrest of the suspect happens by the authority of police. Arrest inculcates taking a person into the custody mainly to present the suspect to court. As a matter of fact, probable cause is the legal requirement for an arrest. This means there is a possible link between the specific person and specific crime, which included the intention behind committing the crime.

Prosecution

Prosecution of the criminal is carried on by the district attorney. In order to charge the person with a crime, prosecutor considers many factors including the magnitude of offense and the potential of evidence.

Indictment

Indictment by the grand jury or the ...