Courtroom Discretion Q&A Response Misty Moore, Victoria Hardin and Elizabeth Ortiz CJA/224 September 19, 2011 Rick Rice Courtroom Discretion Q&A Response What is prosecutorial discretion? When a crime happens evidence is gathered, witnesses are found and a case file is established all the information. Due to an overabundance of case files, prosecutors review each file and which will be brought to trial. When there is enough evidence to convince the prosecutor the person suspected of committing the crime is guilty without a reasonable doubt, he or she will pursue the case to trial. Many decisions pertaining to a case going to trial and how actively they pursue the case are left up to prosecutors and how they view the evidence and what the evidence means to them.
Courtroom Standards Analysis July 30th, 2012 CJA/484 Criminal Justice Administration Capstone David Mailloux Courtroom Standards The courtroom is made up of individuals that are aware of the law to a point and that can make decisions on putting an accused offender away for a criminal act he or she has committed. These individuals consist of judges, attorneys, victims, the accused, and other courtroom personnel. This paper will go over each type of individual involved in a courtroom setting and his or her role. Judges and Witnesses Judges have many responsibilities such as interpreting the law, taking in evidence throughout the case; judges also determine how the hearing and trials unfold while in the courtroom. A judge has five basic tasks, first making sure that order is maintained throughout the courtroom and throughout the trial.
They report to court in front of the judge and the rest of the drug court offenders. They need to explain to the judge what they having been doing to help themselves. Also the judge makes sure the participant has a job or is in the direction of getting one. The goal is to make these people recover instead of going to prison. The level of supervision permits the program to support the recovery process, and it allows the supervisors to react swiftly to participants who cannot comply with the program.
Prosecuting those who commit crimes is very important to the overall wellbeing of society and the citizens within society. Prosecuting and convicting criminals not only prevents them from committing another crime, it also serves as a deterrent to others that may be considering breaking the law. Many courts make up the judicial branch and these courts are responsible for applying laws made by the government. The courts are made up of courtroom workgroups that are the basis of the courts proceedings. The courtroom workgroup consists of the participants that work for the court.
However, with the “due process an individual is allowed their day in court if suspected of a crime because of United States constitution. Therefore giving that individual a right to a fair trial with an option for a jury of his or hers peers. It is the responsibility of the courts system to provide strong evidence on an individual accused of committing a crime beyond reasonable doubt. Strong evidence is important to avoid sending an individual to prison if they are innocent (Siegel, J. L.,
Prosecution vs. Defense Counsel Paper CJS 220 Prosecution vs. Defense Counsel Paper There are several differences in the roles of the defense counsel and a prosecutor. One of which is what they do and who they work for. The prosecutor works for the state and tries to convict the defense counsels client at all costs. The prosecutor also has the challenge of trying to get the state everything they want in the trial. The prosecutor also has the task of protecting the state in consumer related matters.
The prosecutor decides to pursue the case on the grounds of the evidence and the quality of it. If there is good evidence for a strong case against the defendant. I believe that if there was more stringent criteria for taking cases then first less case would be pursued and second would be more evidence as well as material in the
Depending on the crime: misdemeanor, felony, or petty offense; punishment is rendered after a conviction is determined. Mitigation by the defense attorney occurs prior to sentencing. According to The Law Offices of Patrick Maher (n.d.), “after a guilty finding, the judge gives the attorney an opportunity to speak on behalf of the client. This is called mitigation, defined as “to make less severe.” This is a very important part of the process and can have a dramatic impact on the judge’s decision.” The crime and circumstance dictates punishment and sentencing. Punishment can include probation, imprisonment, community service, and fines.
The process on becoming a probation officer you are to be able to work with people who were convicted of crimes and sentenced to probation instead of incarceration. Incarceration means the state of being imprisoned which is people who were convicted on a crime,criminal offenders, and dangerous people. Also my job is to arrange job training. I get to do test on every single person to make sure that they dont have drunk,smoke, and if they have use drugs. In order to do my job right i need to work in court and also go through profiles to check records of those people.
Punishing people who commit crime is the job of the prosecution lawyer; they attempt to put the violators behind bars (Gardner, T. & Anderson, T., 2012). Rehabilitating those that have committed crimes is also the responsibility of the corrections. During their stay in the jails/prison, the violators can be subject to programs to help reform them to be productive citizens once they get out of jail/prison (Gardner, T. & Anderson, T.,