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The Crime Of The Criminal Justice System

Decent Essays

The criminal justice system in England and Wales is made up of multiple agencies which all have different responsibilities, however they share the main objective of maintaining and enforcing the rule of law. The International Bar Association (2005) describes the Rule of Law as ‘the foundation of a civilized society’ with a society’s formal response to crime being the responsibility of the criminal justice system ‘more specifically in terms of a series of decisions and actions being taken by a number of agencies’ (Criminal Justice). Law enforcement, courts, the penal system, and crime prevention are the four key agencies that make up the criminal justice system.
The criminal justice system is intricate, in addition to the officials and …show more content…

Through such mediums as the media, political debates and official statements the public is made aware and so is able to form opinions and ideas about the way the criminal justice system, and the agencies involved, function and its effectiveness. When looking at other countries clear differences can be seen in the structures and practices in place; such things as the ‘contents’ of the law, the various sentences enforced by the courts, and countries citizens perspectives of crime and punishment.
In England and Wales adversarial justice is the main principle used in the criminal justice system. The adversarial system is not designed to establish the truth about an incident, that responsibility is placed onto law enforcement agencies and prosecutors. Once having identified a suspect it is their responsibility to gather enough evidence to convince a court of their guilt beyond reasonable doubt. An already stated above, the purpose of an adversarial system of justice is not to get to the truth, the first barrier to a conviction is the lack of evidence. Once law enforcement has a suspect and has collected all the evidence possible the case is put to the CPS who will then have to decide whether it is likely a trial shall result in prosecution, and also whether it is in the public interest to proceed. Once a decision has been

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