Criminal Justice System

Criminal Justice System

Criminal justice system is a system established by the state and federal government to control criminal activities and levy charges and penalties on those found guilty violating the laws. To understand the criminal Justice system and how it operates, it is important to know its components and its processes and how it carries out its duties to maintain law and order in any society. The components are Law enforcement, Prosecutors, Defense attorneys, Courts, and the Corrections.

Law enforcements are a group of professional members of the society and their work is to uphold and enforce the law. These individuals take reports for crimes that occurred in their jurisdiction, investigate crimes, collect, and safe guard evidence. Law enforcement officers also have the power to arrest offenders, render testimony, and carry out investigations. After they accomplish their main objectives, prosecutor’s office reviews documents such as police reports and evidence.

Prosecutors are state and federal government lawyers. They review the evidence provided to them by the Law enforcement, and the prosecutor decides whether he or she needs to file charges. If the prosecutor decides to file charges, the case is brought forward to the court and the accused makes his or her first court appearance. Judge examines the evidence and assigns the accused an attorney if he or she does not have one.

Defense attorney usually represents the accused against cases brought against him or her. They specialize in defense cases and can represent individuals and companies. When an accused person cannot afford the services of an attorney in a criminal case the court provides his or her with a lawyer commonly referred to as Public defender. Public defenders are government workers and are paid by the state or Federal government thorough salary to provide free legal counsel and represent the accused in the Court.

Courts, here the cases are brought forward and decided. Courts deals with cases that arise from a minor traffic citation to cases brought about challenging the laws that govern the society. Court provides the defendant’s the option to have his or her case heard by a grand jury or have the case decided by a Judge. The defendant is arraigned and pleads guilty or not guilty and date for trial is set if the defendant