Criminal Law

Introduction1

Description of the crime2

Description of the process in the criminal justice system the offender would go through3

Analysis of the weakest and strongest links in the criminal justice process4

References6

Criminal Law

Introduction

The Criminal Justice System in the United States refers to the system that ensures that justice is served and law and order is maintained within the nation. It is an entire network that consists of a number of regulatory bodies, which work in collaboration with each other towards solving any criminal case. The regulatory bodies consist of three categories that work in unison for concluding a criminal case: (1) legislative bodies, which include those bodies that create laws (legislative or general assembly/state legislature) and the ones that maintain it like the police, sheriffs, marshals, etc.; (2) judiciary bodies, which include judicial institutions like courts that deal with civil laws, criminal laws and administrative laws; pertinent personnel include defense lawyers, judges, and prosecutors; (3) corrections' bodies, that consist of those institutions that take care of matters like parole, probation, prisonary periods, etc; parole officers, prison officials and probation officers are the related personnel (Blumstein, 1969).

When a crime is committed, the case goes through several sequential steps before being resolved. Initially an investigation takes place in the event of occurence of a crime. Possible suspects are identified and evidence is collected in order to form a probable cause to get an arrest warrant issued to the police. Then a prosecution (court hearing) takes place by an attorney general; the person is either charged or released on the dismissal of charges. If the case lies within the category of felony/capital offense, then an indictment (formal accusation) takes place by the grand jury in order to evaluate the strength of the evidence, to determine whether or not a trial should be held. Defendants or defense attorneies are not allowed to attend the grand jury proceedings, but they can attend the preliminary hearing. Next, an arraignment is filed by the defendant before the trial takes place. A bail or detention could be given, and the defendant and prosecutor could come to a mutual agreement upon reduction in punishment in exchange for the accused accepting the imposed charge(s). A trial takes place and the accused is termed as guilty or not found guilty, and then the judge issues a sentence to either a prison, hours of community service, or correction of the convict. The defense attorney can file an appeal in an appeal court after the sentence has been announced, and if the appeal is accepted the case reopens on the trial stage. The initial trial that took place earlier is not considered then. Then it is up to the prosecutor to either refile the case or drop the charges. Following the sentencing or retrial, a punishment or rehabilitation takes place. The criminal gets released upon serving the sentence.

Description of the crime

For the purpose of delivering this assignment, I chose an article from The New York Times, titled “The Crime of His Childhood” written by (Jamieson, ...