Adjudication And Oversight Essay

There are two primary roles played in the criminal justices system, adjudication and oversight. To first understand how these are two primary roles in the justice system, then a clear definition of each term is needed. Adjudication is defined as “one of the two key roles of the criminal courts; to process defendant who have been arrested by the police and formally charged with criminal offenses” (Hemmens, Brody, & Spohn, 2013). On the other hand, oversight is “an important function of courts, particularly appellate courts. The process of reviewing the decisions of lower courts and of criminal justice official to endure that proper procedures were followed and that neither laws nor constitutional provisions were violated” (Hemmens, Brody, & Spohn, 2013).

Adjudication is used to process defendants who have

First of all, for cases that are appealed at a high level, the appellate courts then decide how the case was handled at the lower level, meaning these courts can decide if the procedures such as selection of the jury was correct or if the defendant was either denied or granted assistance of counsel. Another decision that is made by these courts is if a trial is appealed months or years later, the appellate court then influences what can happen to the case or what should have occurred at the lower leveled courts; this ideal and decision is core of oversight in courtrooms. Also, appellate courts can oversee any action of criminal justice officials, this means they can see if the behavior of court actors, such as police officers, prosecutors, defense attorneys, etc., complies or violates any laws or requirements. Therefore, this function of the appellate courts, such as with the U.S. Supreme Court, can monitor and tell court actors how to act is one of the very important fundamentals of oversight in the criminal justice