Assembly Line Justice Case Analysis

As criminology majors, we must learn the inner workings of the court system as well as the crucial courtroom players. We have all watched series such as Law and Order, CSI, American Crime, etc., but they give us a false sense of what an actual courtroom setup looks like. Unlike these shows, there are various steps that must be taken before the defendant is prosecuted. There is the arrest, initial appearance, bail is set, either a grand jury or preliminary hearing is conducted, arraignment occurs, along with all pre-trial motions being heard before trial, a trial is then started, a sentence is given, and sometimes the defendant appeals the charge. In contrast, assembly line justice cases end at the arraignment phase since the defendant accepts a plea deal.
The Vigo County courthouse is classified into six divisions based on the types of cases each judge presides over. I decided to view the cases of division five which deals with impaired driving and drug cases. The cases that I watched were known as assembly line justice, meaning that an actual trial does not take place since the defendant pleads guilty in order to get a plea deal. Since they take a plea agreement this stage is known as the arraignment. In assembly line justice cases are moved quickly …show more content…
I sat back and observed case after case be passed down to the court reporter as the defendants plead guilty one after another. I realized the amount of stress that is placed upon a judge to move cases along so that the caseload decreases and positions open up on the docket for other cases to be heard. We often watch TV shows and believe that how they portray the courtroom is realistic, but very few of us have actually been inside an actual courtroom. We too frequently rely on news channels and TV series to feed us deceptive views of courtrooms and their inner