Federal Vs. State

The Federal government does not play as big of a role in decisions as the state government does, but they are just as important in the criminal of justice system. This is because the state courts tend to do the most sentencing while the Federal courts are used to deal with Federal cases. However, the Federal can oversee the State and even change or set rules in which the state must go by in future cases.

The government’s role is to be as supportive such as in providing funding to the states to aid in activities pertaining to the criminal justice process and which warrant national attention (federalism, 2008). This has led to some noted differences in the criminal justice policy between the federal as well as the state governments. This paper therefore seeks to analyze the apparent similarities and differences in the development and implementation of the criminal justice policy within these governments.

DEVELOPMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE POLICY

Generally, the federal government has a significant role in the formulation of various policies within the states but such these policies are never a requirement for the individual states. The policies centering on criminal justice are considered to be a local matter and are largely determined by individual states. Thus the formulation of criminal and other policies at the state level will depend on the values upheld by each state. However, the federal government has its own framework of criminal justice policy with which it prosecutes federal offenders (Singh, 2003).

IMPLEMENTATION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE POLICY

Due to the constitutional powers that allow individual states to make their own laws and policies and a difference in traditional values, the criminal justice policy differs greatly within the states. These differences range from what constitutes a crime, what sentences to give to certain offenders and the requirements of the judicial system.

The jury system for instance, is a notable difference in the implementation of criminal justice policy. While the jury is an option that a defendant has to choose from in the judicial system of all the states, the difference emerges in the size. The federal government has a provision for a 12 person jury while for the different states, the jury size will vary based on if it’s a two jury to serve for two defendants on the same case. Also for the federal government to convict an offender the verdict of the jury has to be unanimous, but this is not a requirement for criminal justice proceedings at the state level.

The states also have varying definitions of what is considered to be criminal behavior as well as how to punish each offence. They can also choose from the national framework, which laws to implement and which ones to ignore (Singh, 2003). For instance, habitual offender statutes which required that repeat offenders be sentenced to life imprisonment