The Criminal Justice Process: The Process Of A Criminal Trial

The process of a criminal trial begins with the choice of having a judge or jury trial. The following comes with the evidence presentation and any arguments or rebuttals. Finally, the judge or jury makes a final and formal declaration that the alleged person is guilty or innocent of the criminal offense in a court of law (Johnson, Farrell, Warren, & Bobo, 2015). However, before any of criminal trial can begin, the members of the justice system must gather evidence from witnesses, interrogations of the suspect, victims, the crime scene, medical or physical examination, and the materials used during the offense. Although evidence is not always found, witnesses and victims may not always remember everything that has happened. When evidence is mistreated, misused, misplaced, and left out, the wrong suspect may be investigated and convicted. For this, an innocent suspect may lose their freedom (Johnson, Farrell, Warren, & Bobo, 2015). Criminal investigations and trials are created on the basis of finding the objective truth, but there are many subjective and situational factors that influence the course of the trials and investigations (Johnson, Farrell, Warren, & Bobo, 2015). These

For instance, witnesses may remember that the suspect has long, curly hair; however, the real criminal may have short, straight hair. This is merely up to the members of the criminal justice system to decipher and thoroughly investigate the true criminal.

Lady Justice is depicted wearing a blindfold. The blindfold represents that justice is blind and impartial. However, justice is not always “blind”, as people in the system bring their own bias and perspectives and base their decisions on them. Jonathan Rudin (2016) argued that Aboriginal people are overrepresented in the criminal justice system. Rudin especially argued that Aboriginal youth are overrepresented in Ontario correctional facilities at a much higher rate than