U.S. Criminal Justice System In order to keep a safe society, it is important to establish a nation with good education to teach people judging from right or wrong , excellent police force to keep our street safe, and most of all, a good criminal justice system to carry out the justice. United States is a place with little crimes, a nation with nice houses, beautiful beaches, and expensive shops without property just like what I seen in the American movies in my opinion before I arrived here. The very moment I stood in my dream street, Hollywood boulevard, I was shocked at the scenario. I then realized that this is a place no different from other countries The United States has many problems too, especially in crimes and its criminal justice system. The major feature of the U.S. criminal justice system is the jury system which is found nowhere else in the world except here in the America. The jury system originally was designed such that a decision of whether a person is guilty or innocent will not fall only into one individual's hand but a group of people. This feature gives the U.S. criminal justice system a lot of strength in a way that in order for 10 people to agree on a person being guilty or not, the court must supply sufficient amount of evidence so that no one will be punished by mistake. Moreover, since the jury selection is done so secretly and strict that it is not possible to judge any one in court in the favor of any side, it is the de...
Kassin, Saul, and Lawrence Wrightsman (Eds.). The Psychology of Evidence and Trial Procedure. Chapter 3. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications, 1985. Print.
As one of the seven jury deliberations documented and recorded in the ABC News television series In the Jury Room the discussions of the jurors were able to be seen throughout the United States. A transcript was also created by ABC News for the public as well. The emotions and interactions of the jurors were now capable of being portrayed to anyone interested in the interworkings of jury deliberations. The first task,...
Walsh, James, and Dan Browning. "Presumed Guilty Until Proved Innocent." Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN). 23 Jul 2000: A1+. SIRS Issues Researcher.
jury of his peers. When the result of a trial is a guilty verdict and the
Trials by jury are adopted by most countries that use an adversarial legal system under the common law; that is when an impartial judge evaluates evidence gathered by two opposing parties independent of the juridical power as opposed to the civil law’s inquisitorial system where the court itself is involved in the investigation (Block, Parker, Vyborna & Dusek, 2000). The countries using the adversarial system, among which are the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia or USA, only use jury in high-profile criminal cases such as those involving murder, rape, manslaughter or false imprisonment (“When are juries used in criminal and civil cases?”). This makes up approximately 2% of all criminal trials (Lloyd-Bostock, as cited in Howitt, 2002) from
Stevenson, D 2012, The function of uncertainty within jury systems, George Mason Law Review, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 513-548, viewed 6 May 2014, .
...tood. This problem has persisted through many cases, clearly highlighting the lack of expertise of juries, and if they do not understand the process and basic rules, then they cannot be a reliable body in determining innocence. Jurors incapability of following evidence inevitably leads to guess work with jury’s finding defendants guilty because ‘he looked like he did it’ and ‘he looks like a nonce so he must of done it’. Moreover, cases have been reported of incredulous juries using absurd methods to ascertain a verdict, like in R v Young 1995, where a Ouija Board was used to determine if the defendant was guilty or not. It is clear that it would be better and far more effective to abolish the jury system, and leave the experts and qualified legal professionals to try defendants, as they understand the process and possess the expertise to make balanced decisions.
a jury system, but no such thing has occurred. It has produced a feeling of
Twelve Angry Men is a film that exemplafies many aspects of social psychology. In it, twelve jurors are tasked with deciding the fate of a boy accused of murder. The initial vote is eleven to one in facor of guilty. Gradually, through much intense discussion, all the jurors are swayed to vote not-guilty. The film highlights some of the key theories in social psychology, including confomityprejudice, and group polarization.
In the United States, an accused person is believed to be innocent until proven guilty. The process to make a trial fair has been guaranteed to citizens of the United States through the constitution. Included in the process as a guaranteed right are jurors. A jury is a group of people, from the community, selected by the prosecution and the defense counsel, tasked with deciding if the accused is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt (Weigman, 2011). To make this decision, the pool of jurors will listen to opening statements, listen to witness statements, look at the evidence and hear closing arguments. The jurors will then be given instructions that include the explanation of their role, the law and what proof beyond reasonable doubt means. The
The criminal justice system is composed of three parts – Police, Courts and Corrections – and all three work together to protect an individual’s rights and the rights of society to live without fear of being a victim of crime. According to merriam-webster.com, crime is defined as “an act that is forbidden or omission of a duty that is commanded by public law and that makes the offender liable to punishment by that law.” When all the three parts work together, it makes the criminal justice system function like a well tuned machine.
The criminal justice system views any crime as a crime committed against the state and places much emphasis on retribution and paying back to the community, through time, fines or community work. Historically punishment has been a very public affair, which was once a key aspect of the punishment process, through the use of the stocks, dunking chair, pillory, and hangman’s noose, although in today’s society punishment has become a lot more private (Newburn, 2007). However it has been argued that although the debt against the state has been paid, the victim of the crime has been left with no legal input to seek adequate retribution from the offender, leaving the victim perhaps feeling unsatisfied with the criminal justice process.
Juror #8 did not subscribe to the ideas of groupthink. He held on to his beliefs and persuaded the other jurors that the suspect was not guilty which allowed him to be set free.“Groupthink, is a term coined by social psychologist Irving Janis
In most cases, law enforcement involves investigation of all forms of suspected, potential or actual criminal activities and presenting evidence arising from investigation to the courts for determination of criminal culpability and subsequent punishment. Law enforcement is also concerned with detaining criminal suspects pending further investigation or judicial action. These, however, are not the only responsibilities or functions of law enforcement. Law enforcement is also concerned with deterrence and prevention of crime as well as enforcement of all the orders given by the law courts such as writs or warrants. In addition, law enforcement play an important role in ensuring public safety, maintaining public order, operating c...
Today’s justice system is broken and flawed, with a history of falsely convicting innocent people due to a variety of things, including eyewitness misidentification, invalid or improper forensic testing, and even racial bias on the jury. Many wrongful convictions happen as a result of a combination of these things, and other causes can contribute in each individual case (“causes”). Countless people throughout history have been punished for crimes they did not commit, and with recent advancements in DNA testing bringing about hundreds of exonerations of the wrongfully convicted, one has to wonder how many innocents have languished in prisons throughout history. With all the flaws and potential for error in our courtrooms today, justice can not be brought about by our current system; in order to repair it, we need governmental reform to promote true equity and prevent future miscarriages of justice.