Introduction
Courts play a crucial role in ensuring justice prevails. A criminal justice system is an organization that enforces the legal code. The system includes the correction, the court, and the police (Office of the Justice Program, 2021). The above trio works together to ensure that a case is handled successfully. When a crime has been committed, various departments usually investigate the incident. In addition, the police who may act as eyewitnesses can testify in a court of law. The court ensures that the accused suspect has received a fair trial and determines if they are guilty or not (Office of the Justice Program, 2021). Nevertheless, the authenticity of the evidence presented to the court is vital. Therefore, in the U.S. Courts and the Criminal Justice System, the prosecution process is the strongest, unique, requiring some ways to improve it, and it has impacted the judicial process.
Why Prosecution Is the Strongest Part of the Criminal Court System
Prosecutors play a vital role in the United States criminal court. Thus, the prosecution is the most substantial aspect of the court system. Prosecution refers to the process of undertaking legal action against an individual or group of people who have been accused of a crime in court. Moreover, during that process, it will involve reviewing all the charges against the accused and deciding if they will be charged with an offense (National Academic Press, 2021). During the prosecution process, the evidence to be used against someone needs to be collected. Investigators seize documents, audio recordings, video, photographs, weapons, equipment, and military maps to gather the evidence required to build and support prosecution cases (National Academic Press, 2021). In addition, they also inspect crime scenes and collecting of witness statements.
Suppose a person is arrested or issued with a warrant of arrest, then it is the prosecutor’s role to prove to the judge that they have sufficient evidence against the accused in the trial. Once the judges have agreed to hear the case, the prosecutor’s role is to bear the burden of proof to convince the jury that the person is guilty beyond reasonable doubt (International Criminal Court, 2021). During that process, the prosecutor will present all the evidence, such as witness statements, tangible objects, or document information, to the panel (International Criminal Court, 2021). Thus, they need to investigate to establish a truth about given cases.
Bearing the burden of proof to convince the jury is not easy during prosecution. For example, petitioner Brett was accused of murdering his grandfather (Supreme Court, 2021). The petitioner was 15 years old when he committed the murder during that time. The petitioner said he was not guilty of a crime but only acted in self-defense (Supreme Court, 2021). In this case, the prosecutor needs to provide evidence to the court that the accused did it intentionally and was not self-defense as he proclaimed. As for Brett, the evidence presented before the jury rejected his arguments and held him guilty of murder.
Prosecution Is Unique in the Criminal Court System
The prosecution process is unique to the United States. Thus, it has enabled them to bring many accused to justice. In the United States, there are minimal corruption cases among the prosecutors than any other nation, which makes it unique. The bribery of any judicial official is illegal, according to the California penal code 92 (Law Advocate Group, 2021). The judicial officer includes the prosecutor, arbitrator, judges, and umpires. In addition, corruption often utilizing an influence through the judges to bring a decision that is not appropriate (Law Advocate Group, 2021). For example, William Jefferson, a congressman, was involved in corruption cases. During the search, part of 90,000 USD was found in the freezer (FBI, 2021). This money was wrapped in aluminum foil. The accused was found guilty of utilizing his position to get bribes from firms. The investigation revealed that he sought hundreds of millions of dollars from companies (FBI, 2021). Nevertheless, an investigation was done, and William Jefferson was sentenced to 13 years in prison (FBI, 2021). Justice would not have prevailed if the prosecution process could have been bribed. Thus, the unique court system has brought sanity to the state public office.
The training on the bar to carry out any investigation is top-notch compared with other nations. Thus, the job in the office of prosecutor is coveted, competitive, and limited. Therefore, it will require more experience and training for an individual to get into the office (Criminal Justice Program, 2021). First, a person needs to have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited program. Afterward, they need to take the law school admission test, usually divided into five sections. Then, they will join the law school, which must be accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) (Criminal Justice Program, 2021). After being trained, someone needs to pass the bar exam administered by the Board of Bar Examiners. Since the jobs as a prosecutor are limited in the United States, a candidate needs to find seasonal work or internships to work with the local prosecutor office or another legal office (Criminal Justice Program, 2021). In addition, someone needs to keenly observe the proceeding in the court and seek out any opportunity’s attorney offices. Due to the intensive training, they acquire experience, which makes them competent attorneys.
Way to Improve the Aspect of Prosecution
There are several ways to improve the process of prosecution. First, they need to tighten the laws concerning corruption or any form of bribery in the prosecution process. Some of the judicial officers often ask for bribes from the accused so as not to produce evidence in the court of law. For instance, a former police detective used his official position to get sex from women to assist them in the prosecution case (United States Department of Justice, 2021). The detective agreed not to appear in the court of law so that the case could be dismissed (United States Department of Justice, 2021). Upon accepting the offer, he promised would take the necessary step to reduce the potential sentence. Nevertheless, the detective was convicted of bribery. Thus, corruption tends to twist the law so that the accused may be held innocent. Therefore, laws concerning corruption in the prosecution process should be upheld.
The other way to improve aspect of prosecution is by using new technological advancement methods. The demand placed in the prosecution process has increased (Lawrence et al., 2021). To ease the access of the information, they need to be stored in digital format. The time used in examining evidence such as video footage and various documents should be minimal (Lawrence et al., 2021). The increasing volume of cases to be investigated by the attorney can be overwhelming if there are many hard copies. Meaning he has to take time to verify the document manually. As a result, it will be time-consuming, and they will not finish the cases at the agreed time. Thus, storing the information in a new technological advancement method will reduce the time needed to sufficiently examine and investigate the evidence presented to decide to drop the case or not.
Overall Impact of the Prosecution
The prosecution has an impact on the process of the court system. The process will ensure that accused have been prisoned if there is enough evidence to support the claim. For instance, cases such as corruption involve the misuse of public resources; if not dealt with, they will cripple the country’s economy. The prosecutor must use the law in cases, respect human dignity, and protect the right of the person involved in the proceeding (UNODC, 2021). Therefore, the prosecution process will ensure that enough evidence has been gathered and the witness so that culprits can be brought to the trial.
The prosecution process ensures that the evidence that has been collected has not been tampered with. Impartially and Independence are vital to combat and prevent corruption within the process of prosecution (UNODC, 2021). Therefore, it is essential to reduce the corrupt officials’ chances of interfering with a criminal action or an investigation. Thus, the prosecutor will ensure effectiveness and fairness in the prosecution process (UNODC, 2021). The prosecutor will cross-examine the evidence presented and interrogate the witness to find proof of the crime. As a result, they will weigh if the case needs to be taken to court to be dismissed.
Conclusion
In the U.S. Courts and the Criminal Justice System, the prosecution process is the strongest, unique, requiring some ways to improve it, and it has impacted the judicial process. For instance, it is the strongest because once the judges have agreed to hear the case, the prosecutor’s role is to bear the burden of proof to convince the jury that the accused is guilty beyond reasonable doubt. The process is unique since the training on the bar to carry out any investigation is top-notch compared with other nations. Thus, the job in the office of prosecutor is coveted, competitive, and limited. The process of prosecution needs to be improved. For example, new technological advancement methods have increased because of the demand placed in the prosecution process. The process has a positive impact. It will ensure there is fairness in the trial.
References
Criminal Justice Program. (2021). How to become a prosecutor. Criminal Justice Programs. Retrieved 11 December 2021, from https://www.criminaljusticeprograms.com/specialty/prosecutor/.
FBI. (2021). William Jefferson. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved 11 December 2021, from https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/william-jefferson.
International Criminal Court. (2021). Office of the Prosecutor. Icc-cpi.int. Retrieved 11 December 2021, from https://www.icc-cpi.int/about/otp.
Law Advocate Group. (2021). Bribing California Judges and Jurors. Law Advocate Group LLP. Retrieved 11 December 2021, from https://www.lawadvocategroup.com/bribing-california-judges-and-jurors/.
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Office of the Justice Program. (2021). Functions of criminal justice – procedures, tasks, and personnel (from fundamentals of criminal justice – a syllabus and workbook, 1977, 2d Ed., By Dae H. Chang – See Ncj-44045). Ojp.gov. Retrieved 11 December 2021, from https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/functions-criminal-justice-procedures-tasks-and-personnel.
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