The Criminal Justice System

In chapter one, Joel Samaha discusses the road map of criminal procedure. Throughout the roadmap, the author demonstrates the overall guidelines as to how one is eventually institutionalized. The author claims the vast majority of law abiding citizens seize to surpass the first part of his ideal journey. However if an individual is charged, they will undergo a series of five components.

• Include your opinion on whether the changes are sufficient. Should more changes be made, and if so, what changes?

The law and legal processes are utilised in various ways in order to provide a fair and just trial process for the victim and the accused, as well as the general community. There are set standards ensuring that the trial process is a fair one for all involved, as a functioning, fair and efficient justice system is the cornerstone of any true democracy.

The past trends of the criminal justice system are how we evaluate the system as a whole, and how we strive to make it better. The present is full of ideas towards a better future involving those better ideas made in the past. With today’s society of highly educated individuals, we can only speculate on what the future of the criminal justice system will be, but we can be assured of one certainty, it will change. The value of the criminal justice system in a changing society will also play a factor in what will become of the criminal justice system itself.

Within the criminal justice system discuss the effectiveness of legal and non-legal measures in achieving justice.

The criminal trial process has many aspects which aim to balance the rights of victims, offenders and society, including plea bargains and charge negotiations, the ability of defendants to hire legal representation and complete and partial defences. However, these processes do not always succeed in completely achieving justice for victims, offenders and society.

The two models that we have encountered in this class are the due process model and the law-and-order, or the crime control model. The due process model can be observed, most famously, during the Warren Court in the 1960s, during Warren’s time as Chief Justice the court was most concerned with protecting and extending the rights of the accused. The due process model puts more strain on the prosecution to prove that the criminal’s rights were not infringed upon and that he actually committed the crime. In contrast, the crime control model is most concerned with lowering crime and deterring future criminals by prosecuting and processing criminals and cases as fast as possible. In some ways, this model resembles an assembly line, in the sense that it attempts to process cases as quickly and efficiently as possible. This model is much more concerned with convictions rather than upholding the rights of the accused. It is most prevalent starting in the late 1960s when Nixon appointed Warren Burger as Chief Justice, this model continued on with Chief Justice Rehnquist in the 1980s and continues on today under the current Chief Justice, John Roberts. However, the crime control model finds some opposition in the Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan who were appointed by President Obama, these two Justices tend to lean more towards the due process model.

Some of these rights are the right to be assumed innocent until proven guilty, the right against arrest without probable cause, the right against self-incrimination, the right to an attorney, and the right to fair questioning by the police. All of this is part of the Due Process Model but one thing the Due Process Model calls into question is, do the rights of the individual outweigh the rights of the many? (Perron)

The criminal justice system consists of models and theories that often contradict one another. Of these models are the crime control model, the due process, model, the consensus model and the conflict model. In this paper these models are evaluated and defined, as well as each entity in the criminal justice systems role within each model. Policing, corrections and the court system all subscribe to each model in some way and in a hurried manner in cases that dictate such a response. As described by Erik Luna in the Models of Criminal Procedure, the following statement summarizes the aforementioned most appropriately.

Criminal Justice System Today’s criminal justice system is corrupted. It is outdated, unfair, and unethical. For just the smallest crimes, we punish a very high percentage of our population creating life long obstacles in their life after their sentences. What was once a system that was designed to protect the people and treat them with justice, has now become a business designed to profit off of criminals.

The criminal justice system is an essential aspect of American society as well as the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The purpose of laws is to protect society from harm, ensure everyone’s safety, and equally treated. The criminal justice system works to protect the innocent and punish the guilty without violating the rights the criminal suspect to avoid any injustices. As society evolves the criminal justice system needs to evolve so it is important to create new laws to keep up with the evolution and new trends. As new trends and contemporary issues develop in society, they can have a direct impact on the different functions of the criminal justice

There is a responsibility of the prosecution team to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the individual is guilty of a crime and they cannot be tried for the same crime twice. This protects the natural rights of all citizens. The second strength is the right to proper defense. All individuals have the right to legal representation. The many sanctions that are in place, ensure that there is no abuse of the prosecutorial power.

The criminal justice system is a group of institutions that work together to protect a society, prevent and control crime, and maintain justice; enforcing the laws regulated by society. As the years have gone by and society has evolved; so have the criminal justice system and its methods to accomplish its role in society. This short analysis will evaluate the main facts that have been affecting the criminal justice system for decades and have influenced the evolution the justice system is enduring in a changing society (Muraski, 2009). Amongst the changes in the system, we will discuss the effect the changes have had on the citizens and how their perceptions have evolved as well.

The due process and crime control models, both created by Stanford University law professor Herbert Packer, represents two opposing method of principles functioning within criminal justice system. Although the models describe the important facets of the politics and practice of criminal justice, both have been criticized since presented by Packer in 1964. Presently both models are acknowledged as imperfect standards to explain the politics and law of criminal justice. The crime control ideal represents traditional principles, whereas the due process belief reflects moderate values; therefore generating conflict evident throughout the years. This paper discusses models, crime control and due process, and how each affects the criminal

In the due process model, the main goal of the criminal justice system should be able to provide fairness under the law. The criminal justice system should focus on the rights of defendants, not victims where under the bill of rights it provides protection for the rights of defendants. The police should be limited in what they can and cannot do to