Inquisitorial System or Adversarial System

718 Words3 Pages
Inquisitorial System or Adversarial system The difference between Inquisitorial System and adversarial system is a great question. The difference is that an inquisitorial system is a legal system where the judge is involved in investigating the case. The inquisitorial also is where you are automatically guilty and have to prove that you are innocent. Where an adversarial system is where the judge is like an impartial referee between the prosecution and the defense. The adversarial system is where you are innocent until proven guilty. The adversarial system is used in the United States today. Inquisitorial system seeks the truth by questioning those that are familiar with the crime. The decision in a criminal trial is made by a vote of a number of judges and a group of the public something similar to a jury. The judges vote last so they don’t influence group of the public. They can convict a criminal by two thirds majority vote. The rights of the accused come secondary to the truth. The judges do all the investigating. The judges do all the gathering of evidence and questioning of the witnesses before they decide to vote guilty or not. There are defense attorneys and prosecuting attorneys present at trial. Ultimately the trial is to prove ones innocence because they are automatically considered guilty in the Inquisitorial system. To us here in the United States it would be unfair to presume that someone is guilty right away. We try to give people the benefit of the doubt that they are innocent and it is the burden of the state to prove they are guilty. That is why we use the adversarial system here in the United States. The adversarial procedure is described in our text: Essentials of Criminal Justice by: Siegel and Worrall on page 161, eighth paragraph” The procedure used to determine truth in the adjudication of guilt, in which the defense (advocate for the

More about Inquisitorial System or Adversarial System

Open Document